


A Broken Fall

by katebxo



Series: A Broken Fall 'verse [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Meeting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Season 2 AU, Volunteer!Blaine, injured!Kurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-14
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katebxo/pseuds/katebxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hospital Volunteer Blaine Anderson is sent to fetch a patient from the ER and bring him up to the pediatrics ward. What he didn't expect was a member of New Directions, sitting alone, clutching his left arm to his chest, with tears in his eyes. Season 2 AU (after the Rocky Horror episode).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Blaine, 2007

            Blaine was 13 years old when his mother first brought him to work. A well-known paediatric surgeon, she was consistently on call, which was horribly inconvenient, especially when her beeper went off right in the middle of driving Blaine to his much awaited guitar lesson in Westerville. Unfortunately, the hospital managed to page his mother before they had even reached the city lines.

 

            “I’m sorry Blaine, but it looks like I won’t be able to bring you to your guitar lesson today. You’re going to have to come to the hospital with me right now. I don’t have time to drop you off at home, it’s an emergency.”

Blaine’s heart sank. He had been looking forward to this guitar lesson ever since he self-taught himself the chords to The Beatles’ “Let it Be”.He knew his teacher Nick would be super proud of him for learning a song on his own. Now he wouldn’t even be able to show him, at least for a couple more weeks. Blaine’s dad had been in the Philippines for the last two weeks to develop a new business venture and he wasn’t planning to come home until the deal is finalized. Knowing his father’s business, it could be several weeks until he was home, and as his mother’s hectic work schedule prevented her from planning lessons, Blaine knew it would be several more weeks before he would see Nick again. And while Blaine was fine with staying home alone, he wasn’t fine with being brought to the hospital. What was he expected to do at the hospital while his mother was operating?

Blaine angled his body toward the car window as an act of silent sulking. He knew it was dangerous to actually say anything to his mother, especially when she was practically speeding down the highway, already plotting her upcoming surgery in her head. Blaine didn’t trust his emotions either. He figured staying silent was a lot better than discussing the issue with his mother. Blaine cried easily when he was angry or frustrated and he knew his mother wasn’t willing to deal with her brooding teenage son. Blaine sighed; his mother just didn’t understand how happy these guitar lessons made him. He didn’t really have as many friends at school anymore as he did before he joined the school play and most of the boys in his class started picking on him because they thought he was gay. Well…Blaine _is_ gay, but he has only come out to his parents. His guitar lessons and his books are really the only things that keep him going lately.

Blaine’s mother pulled into the special Doctors Only parking lot and bolts out of the car. Before Blaine can catch up with her, he grabbed his guitar from the back seat. There was no way Blaine would leave his precious instrument in the car, where anyone could break in and steal it. Not that it was very common, but he wasn’t willing to take any chances. He entered the hospital lobby, with a _woosh_ of the sliding doors. His mother waited impatiently for him, frowning when he appeared no less than 30 seconds behind her.

“Blaine, there’s no time to waste here, okay? Come on, let’s go.” She swivelled on her heels, flashing her ID card to the security guard at the front desk.

“This is my son. I didn’t have time to drop him off at home because I was paged for emergency surgery. Can you whip him up a visitor’s badge and then send him up to Paediatrics? I can’t wait any longer,” said his mother to the security guard. He nodded in response.

“Blaine, honey, I need to go. I’ll call the nursing station on the floor and tell them you’re coming up. They’ll give you something to do, I’m sure. I’ll see you later okay? Hopefully this won’t take too long.” Blaine’s mother kissed him swiftly on the forehead and was gone before Blaine even registered the scent of Chanel No. 5 and the fast-paced click of her Jimmy Choo’s on the linoleum, as she made her way to the OR.

“Here, kid.” The security guard held up a bright green lanyard, with the words _Lima Memorial Hospital_ proclaimed in big black letters. A card that said “Visitor” hung from it.

“Now, sign here and make sure you return your badge before you leave”. Blaine scribbled his name on the clipboard that the guard held out.

“So, your mom wants you to go to the Paediatrics floor. Go down this hallway and you’ll see a set of elevators on your left. Take the elevator up to Floor 5; the Nurse’s Station is right off the elevator. Go talk to one of the nurses, I’m sure they’ll figure out something to do with you.”

“Thanks,” Blaine said quietly. He turned to walk away, his converse sneakers squeaking on the linoleum.

“Wait, kid!” Blaine stopped and turned towards the guard.

“Make sure to use some of the hand sanitizer before you go up to the floor, or even as soon as you get off the elevator. The hospital is real strict about using that stuff, trying to prevent the spread of germs and stuff, especially around the little kids. **”**

Blaine made his way to the elevators, adjusting the strap of his guitar case on his shoulder. He squeezes some of the hand sanitizer into his hands as he passes the dispenser and rubs it into his hands for at least 15 seconds, just like his mother taught him. Blaine presses the “Up” button with his elbow and waits for the doors to open. The doors on the right open with a DING and Blaine enters, pressing the button numbered 5. Blaine closes his eyes; he’s never been incredibly fond of elevators. When the doors open, Blaine is shocked from the brightness of the floor. Handmade paper crafts and coloured streamers are hanging from every surface. The walls were coloured a lovely light blue and fluffy painted white clouds trailed along the hallways.

Blaine approaches the Nurse’s Station, smack dab in the center of the floor. Before he could say anything, a curly haired nurse lifts her head up from writing in a binder, “You must be Blaine!”

Blaine jumps, startled from the outburst.

“I am Blaine…how did you know that?” Blaine tilts his head in confusion.

“Your mom just called up from the Operating Room. We don’t get many teenage boys visitors, toting around guitars either. Plus, you have your mom’s hair.”

Blaine subconsciously rubs a hand through the mop of long brown curls on his head.

“We’re pretty quiet right now, a lot of the kids are either having a nap or they have visitors, so I’m afraid there’s not much for you to do. However, feel free to take a seat in the lounge. There are a lot of books and magazines lying around. If you’re lucky, the TV might be free!”

“Thanks,” Blaine mumbles, shuffling his feet towards the room. He is still feeling pretty down about missing his lessons. He wonders if maybe he could practice a little without disturbing anyone. Blaine removes his guitar from his shoulder and unzips the case. The room is empty, so Blaine hopes that as long as he plays quietly, he won’t disturb any of the patients or the nurses.

Blaine begins to pick out random chords, warming up. He has his practice booklet in his case, so he figured he might start on learning a new song to show Nick when he manages to schedule another lesson. As Blaine quietly begins to play, a loud cry coming from the hallway interrupts him.

“NO, MOMMY, NO! I don’t want you to leave, please don’t leave!” A little boy no more than 4 years old is tugging a tiny IV pole behind him, stumbling after his mother. Blaine approves of the Spiderman underwear that peeks out of the little gap in his gown. The boy’s mother stopped and crouched down to look her little boy in his tear-filled eyes.

“Hayden, honey, I’m sorry but you know I have to go to work. I wish I could stay with you all day, but I promise you only have to be here for a few more days. Mommy needs to work so she can make sure the doctors fix you right up. Daddy is going to be here in a couple of hours, as soon as he finishes work. Maybe if you ask nicely, one of the nurses can read you a story or something, okay?” Hayden’s mother gives him a gentle hug, presses a kiss to his forehead and stands to leave. The little boy stands still, realizing he can’t actually follow his mommy. When his mother steps into the open doors of the elevator and blows him a quick kiss before the doors close, Hayden plops down on the floor. He’s not facing Blaine, but Blaine can see his tiny shoulders shaking and he can hear the soft noises of the boy’s crying.

Blaine looks out at the Nurse’s Station and he can’t see anybody. Blaine doesn’t know what to do. He feels this need to comfort the little boy; he reminds him of himself a little. After a few minutes of waiting for a nurse to appear, he puts his guitar down and approaches Hayden.

“Hey, little man. Are you okay?” Blaine crouches down to the boy.

The boy looks up. “Who are you?”

“I’m Blaine, who are you?”

“Hayden. I’M FOUR!” He holds up four fingers to show Blaine.

“That’s awesome little man! Hey, why don’t you stop crying and come sit with me for a little while. I can even play you a special song if you want!” Blaine says cheerily, trying to make Hayden smile.

“A special song, just for me?” says Hayden, softly.

“Of course! Come on!” Blaine stands up and holds his hand out to the little boy, offering to help him up. He leads him over to the lounge and sits down on the couch, leaving space for the little boy next to him. Blaine hands Hayden the practice book.

“Okay, your job is to pick a song in this book and I’ll try to play it for you, okay?”

Hayden nods excitedly and quickly begins flipping through the pages.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt (Present, Winter, 2010)

            Kurt Hummel is an idiot. While others may disagree, he was pretty convinced seeing as he was sitting alone in the Lima Memorial Hospital Emergency Room, cradling his left arm close to his chest and trying to ignore the steady pain emanating from his swollen wrist. He knew better than this, _he knew._

            His Dad, Carole and Finn had left two days earlier to stay the weekend in Columbus to visit with Carole’s parents. Kurt begged his dad to let him stay home as he was expected to attend the most anticipated Sweet Sixteen birthday bash of Miss Santana Lopez. Santana’s birthday was close to New Year’s Eve and every year she promised to throw a bigger and better party to outshine the parties going on around the world just two days later. Plus, Santana’s parents always managed to shower their daughter and her guests with lavish gifts and party favours, as a favour to her for having her so late in the year. Being the youngest of her family and out of her group of friends, Santana always managed to get whatever she wanted. Kurt didn’t even try to figure out how she managed to convince her parents that she deserved whatever popped into her mind because they conceived her at an inconvenient time.

            In the middle of the party, which really just ended up being highly exaggerated, Kurt noticed that it had started to snow lightly outside. Santana’s lavish Sweet sixteen birthday party was really just a get together with all of the girls from the Glee Club, plus Kurt. All of the girls were planning to sleep over at Santana’s and giving each other manicures, pedicures and homemade facials. Kurt wished he could join in, but he promised his Dad he wouldn’t be out of the house for too long of a time, especially not overnight as a precautionary measure.* Kurt was sitting in the living room with all of the girls from Glee club watching Hairspray when Santana’s mom entered the room.

            “Kurt, cariño, the roads are starting to look a little messy and the wind is picking up. I know you weren’t planning to sleep over tonight and the party hasn’t really even started, but I would feel better if you left now before the roads get even worse. There’s supposed to be freezing rain and hail tonight and I’m sure your Papi wouldn’t want you to be driving in the middle of a blizzard.”

            Kurt sighed, he knew Señora Lopez had her best intentions at heart and wanted him to be safe, but he was reluctant to leave the party before he got one of Mercedes’ famous manicures. Kurt looked outside the window and shuddered. Snow was beginning to rapidly fall and the sky looked a little grayer than it had before. Kurt decided that it was best that he left before the weather got any worse. He gave a goodbye hug and kiss on the cheek to all of the girls before he left, making sure to wish Santana, yet again, a very Happy Birthday. Kurt made his way to his Navigator, stepping carefully to ensure he didn’t slip on the slick driveway. After Kurt cleaned the snow off his windows with the brush he kept in his backseat, Kurt plugged his iPod in and slowly made his way home.

            The next morning, Kurt decided he wanted to make an omelette for breakfast and clean up the kitchen a little bit. Kurt went up to his bedroom to look for his iPod. Kurt found he always worked best when his Broadway playlist was piping through the speakers on his iPod dock. When he looked in all the places he normally kept it and couldn’t find it, he started to panic. Normally Kurt’s iPod was practically surgically attached to his body, but he couldn’t seem to find it anywhere in the house. As Kurt glanced over every surface in his bedroom (for what felt like the tenth time) his eyes hit the bright pink gift bag that contained all the awesome goodies Santana gave away as favours for her party. Suddenly it clicked in his mind that the last time he listened to his iPod was last night in the car on his way home from the party.

            Kurt threw on his new Marc Jacobs peacoat (50% off, thanks to post-Christmas sales), pulled on his boots and trekked out into the snow towards his Navigator in the driveway. The Navigator was covered in at least 5 inches of snow and ice. Kurt unlocked the doors using the key remote and carefully made his way to the driver’s side door. Kurt didn’t bother attempting to scrape off the solid mixture of ice and snow stuck to the door (and every surface of his car). One strong tug of the car door handle, the door popped open. Kurt spotted his iPod in the space underneath the stereo and grabbed it, clutching his most prized possession to his chest and then slipping it into his coat pocket. Exiting the car and closing the car door, Kurt was trying to decide which ingredients he wanted to put in his omelette, when suddenly Kurt’s right foot was slipping on a hidden patch of ice. Before Kurt could even register that he was falling forward, he subconsciously held his arms out before he slammed into the pavement. The first thing Kurt registers after hitting the ground is a shooting pain going up his left arm and the stinging of his palms and kneecaps. Kurt subconsciously lifts to pressure off his left arm and balances his weight on his knees and right arm, which seems to be fine.  Tears spring to his eyes when he realizes that the pain in his arm is stemming from his rapidly swelling wrist and the pain isn’t starting to fade like the stinging from his palms and kneecaps.

            Kurt turns and sits on the wet ground, cradling his arm to his chest.

            _Shit, shit, what did I do? What did I do? I can’t believe that just happened. I’m an idiot, what did I just do?_ Kurt can barely think straight and his eyes are blurry from the tears. Kurt blinks rapidly and wills himself to calm down just a little because it seems like his heart is trying to beat right out of his chest. The slushy mess on the driveway is starting to seep into the bum of his jeans and he realizes that maybe he should get up before he’s stuck with wet underwear.

            _I’ll call Dad and Carole, they’ll know what to do, they always know what to do._

            Kurt takes a deep breath and grips onto the side of his car with his right hand, trying to help himself up without slipping again. Thankfully, he manages to get himself up on two feet and cautiously makes his way to the front door and into the house. Kurt does everything he can to ignore the searing pain in his wrist as he enters the house and reaches for the phone that Carole kept in the foyer. Kurt dialled his father’s cell phone number off by heart and hoped he would pick up.

             “Kurt? Is everything okay?” filled Kurt’s ear. Just the sound of his dad’s voice made Kurt break down into tears.

            “D-daddy?” Kurt tried to stay calm so he could talk to his dad, but it seems like all of the emotions he should have felt as soon as he realized he was injured were rushing to the surface and he was practically sobbing into the phone.

            “Kurt, you need to calm down and tell me what happened right now,” said Burt.

            Kurt took several deep breaths, attempting to calm himself down.

            “I don’t know what I did Dad. I went outside to get something from my car and I slipped and fell on the ice. Now my wrist is red and swollen and I don’t know if it’s broken but it hurts even if I move it a millimetre. It hurts so much, Daddy, I don’t know what to do.” Kurt let out a sob, squeezing his eyes shut.

            “Hey, buddy, it’s okay. I’m going to go get Carole, okay?” his dad said soothingly in his ear. Kurt could hear rustling on the other end of the phone and his dad’s muffled voice talking to Carole.

            “Kurt, honey, what happened?” said Carole, concerned as she came onto the phone.

            “I slipped and fell on some ice when I went out to get something from my car. We had a huge storm last night and I was distracted and I wasn’t watching myself. I slipped and I broke my fall with my hands. I think I broke my wrist Carole, but I’ve never broken a bone before. Do you think maybe it’s just a really bad sprain?”

            “Well, tell me what kind of symptoms you have.”

            Kurt repeated to Carole what he has told his Dad. Carole clucked her tongue in his ear.

            “Sounds like a break honey. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It doesn’t sound too bad. You’ll have to go to the hospital to get it checked out though”.

            “How am I supposed to do that? I don’t think I can drive with one hand, especially not with the roads this bad. I’m pretty sure none of my friends would be allowed to come get me either!” said Kurt, frantically. He really had no idea how he was going to get to the hospital and he didn’t want his family to be driving home in this kind of weather.

            “You’ll have to call for the paramedics, Kurt,” said Carole, softly.

            “Well how do I do that? Do they have a special number or something?” Carole laughed.

            “Honey, you’re going to have to call 911.”

            “Carole, ARE YOU INSANE? This isn’t even an emergency! I’m going to get in trouble for calling when I don’t actually have an emergency!”

            “Kurt, calm down for a second and think about it. You are injured and you have no other way to get to the hospital. And before you even say anything, yes, you do need to go get it taken care of before the swelling gets worse. Just explain to the operator, _calmly_ , the situation and she’ll send over the paramedics. I know it’s just a broken wrist honey, but the paramedics will know what to do and they’ll take you to the hospital safely. Me and your Dad will try and get to the hospital as soon as we can, but it looks like it’s going to be awhile if the roads are as bad as you say”.

Kurt sighed in resignation. “Look Carole, as much as I don’t want to go through this alone, I’d feel a lot worse if I knew you and Dad and Finn were all risking your lives driving in the massive amounts of snow to get back to Lima. Just wait until they clear the roads, ALL the roads. It’s not a life or death situation here, I’ll just have to deal on my own for now.”

“Okay honey. Listen, we’ll have our phones on the whole time. I know the hospital doesn’t let you use your cell phone, but just ask someone when you get there if it’s okay to call us. We’ll call the hospital when we’re on our way, alright?”

Kurt sniffed.

“Alright.” Before Kurt could hang up, he heard his dad’s muffled voice in the background and suddenly his voice was in Kurt’s ear.

“Kurt, before you go I just want to tell you that I think you’re being really brave right now and I’m proud of you and that I love you, okay?”

Kurt’s eyes welled up again. “Okay Dad, I love you. I’ll call you later.”

“Bye, bud”.

Once Kurt hung up the phone, he knew he really didn’t have any other choice except to call for the paramedics. He had a horrible nervous feeling in his stomach and his heart was starting to pound again. He took a deep breath and dialled 911 before he could talk himself out of it.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” The operator almost sounded like a computerized voice.

“Yes, um, this isn’t exactly an emergency, but I need to go to the hospital and I don’t have a way to get there,” said Kurt, quickly.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“I slipped and fell outside about 10 minutes ago and I think I may have broken my wrist. My parents are out of town and I don’t think I can drive. My step-mom’s a nurse and she thinks for sure my wrist might be broken and that I need to go to the hospital so she said to call. I’m sorry to bother you really, I know it’s not much of a big deal compared to an actual emergency but I promised her I would go”.

“That’s perfectly alright. Can you tell me your name and address?”

Kurt rattled off his name and address.

“Okay, Kurt, the paramedics are on their way. They aren’t sure how long it’s going to take because the roads are so bad, but just sit tight. I would suggest putting some ice on your wrist to help decrease the swelling though, alright?”

“Okay.”

Kurt hung up the phone and walked over to the kitchen, grimacing when he noticed the uncomfortable wetness of his jeans from sitting in the snow. Kurt knew there was no way he’d be able to change, it’s almost takes two people to put on these skinny jeans, trying to take them off with one hand would be a disaster. Kurt opened the freezer door and located one of the many ice packs kept in the freezer for when Finn injured himself during football season and for the many times he managed to trip over his own feet in rehearsal for Glee.

Kurt left the kitchen and sank into his Dad’s favourite arm chair and reached for the remote. He hoped there might have been a Top Model or Project Runway marathon on TV to help distract him from the loop of thoughts running through his head. He gingerly places the icepack over his wrist, wincing with even the slightest pressure.

_I’m going to the hospital. Paramedics are coming to my house and are bringing me to the hospital. Paramedics are going to see me and think I’m an idiot because I called 911 for a stupid broken wrist. I’m going to have to deal with sitting in a packed emergency room with sick people and screaming babies for hours before they can even see me. I’m going to have to get an ugly cast because there’s no way in hell I can walk into McKinley with a decent colour without being pushed into the lockers or getting a slushy facial. Why was I so stupid?_

The doorbell rings, shocking Kurt out of his thoughts. Kurt gets up on shaking legs and opens the door. A smiley brunette wearing a paramedic uniform and toting a large bag stands there. As Kurt says hello to her, she smiles even wider, this calms him down a little.

“Hi there! I’m Marie. You must be Kurt. Can I come in?” she says, cheerily.

Kurt is taken aback a little; he didn’t really expect the paramedic to be in this good of mood. Especially if she had to endure the weather to bring a teenage boy, who was fine other than a broken wrist, to the hospital.

“Let’s sit down for a second,” she says. “Let me take a look at your wrist.”

Kurt gingerly removes the icepack, wincing again from the slight movement. He held out his arm for the paramedic to assess.

“Is it okay if I just lightly touch your wrist, Kurt? I want to check and see how swollen it is”.

Marie asked him to hold both of his arms out to compare each wrist and then she felt the injured area on his left wrist. Even though Marie seemed to be applying feather light touches, the lightest pressure shot pain up his arm, which induced more tears. Marie felt him tense up and stopped immediately.

“Everything looks okay here for the time being, are you ready to go?”

Kurt nodded and quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. Marie looked at him fondly.

“I promise as soon as we get you in the ER, I’ll get one of the doctors to get you something for the pain.” Marie smiles and gives him a wink.

Once they get outside, Kurt’s shocked to see an SUV type vehicle instead of the boxy ambulances that he usually sees, sirens blaring and speeding to emergency situations.  “We didn’t really feel the need to use one of the actual ambulances to come get you, plus, these things have four wheel drive, definitely a lot easier to make it through the snow. That’s my partner Dennis driving.” Kurt looks into the vehicle and sees a burly man with a moustache behind the wheel. Dennis nods at Kurt. “He looks mean, but he’s a teddy bear on the inside, he’s also smart as a whip and fantastic with his hands. If you’re dying, you want Dennis to be the one to save your life, because in most cases, he will. Come on; let’s get you into the car. I’ll sit in the back with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve hope you enjoyed reading A Broken Fall so far and I apologize for putting Kurt through all this pain. I’ve never actually broken a bone, so I have no idea how it would feel, so I hope I portrayed that realistically. I promise Kurt’s break isn’t actually that bad. The next instalment is in Blaine’s point of view and is set in the same timeline as this chapter is, with a little bit of backstory. Our boys meet in the next chapter, so stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

Blaine (Present, December 2010)

            Blaine had been asked if he would like to become an official volunteer at the hospital when the nurses came back from their coffee break and saw Blaine surrounded by many of the patients and their parents, laughing and singing along to whatever Blaine was playing on his guitar. It was almost unbelievable how well he had hit it off with the kids, but Blaine had always been a charismatic, kind child. The nurses knew they wouldn’t hear the end of it until they managed to get Blaine to come back every week and spend time with the patients.

            When Blaine was asked if he’d like to become a volunteer at the hospital, he discussed it with his parents first to see if it would be alright with them.

            “It would look great on your college applications, Blaine,” his father said seriously.

            Blaine paid no attention to his father’s comment. College was so far way and all he could think about was going back to the hospital and making the little kids smile while he played his guitar. Just knowing that he could make those kids feel better, even just for a little while, warmed his heart. Plus, Blaine could talk about Disney movies all he wanted knowing he would have an enthusiastic audience; whenever he tried to talk about his favourite movies with his friends they mocked him, telling him only babies watched Disney movies. No one would even care if they saw him colouring in a colouring book with the other kids.

            So Blaine, while not too concerned about his college applications just yet, immediately went through all the standard procedures to start being a volunteer at the hospital. He took the necessary CPR and first aid courses. Blaine couldn’t think of a happier day than when he was finally given his light blue polo shirt (with the hospital insignia and the word _Volunteer_ sewn on the pocket) and his ID badge. He started going to the hospital with his mother whenever she worked weekends and eventually started going once or twice during the week after school once he got his driver’s license. He didn’t know what it was, but he just had this need in the back of his mind that made him never want to miss a day with the kids. Sure, a lot of them were gone within a couple of days or a week, but sometimes there were kids that were stuck there for months at a time. Blaine couldn’t help but get attached to the little ones that practically begged the nurses to let them leave their room to spend time with Blaine. Sometimes, if he was allowed, Blaine would put on a yellow gown, some gloves and a face mask to go visit with the little cancer patients in their isolation rooms.

*********

            Blaine was lying in bed, immersed in the latest novel he had gotten for Christmas, when his mother lightly knocked on the door and poked her head into Blaine’s room.

            “Blaine, work just called me in. Do you feel like tagging along?”

            Blaine looked up from his book excitedly.

            “I’d love to! But aren’t the roads kind of a disaster right now? I wouldn’t think they’d be calling anyone in right now, with the weather like this.”

            Blaine’s mother sighed.

            “I know, honey, but I really have no other choice. Surgery doesn’t wait for anyone except the surgeon. We’ll have to drive carefully, that’s all. I think I would be best to take your car as well.” Blaine’s parents both owned sleek and shiny convertibles, which weren’t necessarily the best type of vehicles to be driving in this weather. When Blaine’s parents offered to buy him a car, Blaine went with a sensible, environmentally friendly car with good winter tires.

“Okay, sure, just give me a minute.” Blaine changed out of his Dalton sweats for a pair of khakis and his light blue volunteer polo. He shoved his Sketchers into a plastic bag and put on his winter coat, wrapping a gray and red striped knit scarf around his neck. Grabbing his guitar, he ran out the door.

It took about half an hour to get to the hospital instead of the normal ten minutes. Blaine dropped his mother off at the door, before turning around to park in the insane lot. He could imagine how full the emergency room must be, filled with people who had slipped and fallen on the ice or thrown their backs out shovelling snow. Blaine winced as he thought about how many car accidents had occurred in this snowstorm.

Blaine quickly signed in with the security guard at the door and went to the locker room to drop off his coat and change his shoes. Grabbing his guitar, he made his way up to the fifth floor. As Blaine stepped off the elevator, he was immediately greeted by one of his favourite nurses on the floor. She couldn’t be more than 5 or 6 years older than Blaine and she was amazing with the kids. She always had a smile on her face and she spoke with a Southern accent, which added to her charm.

“Blaine! Hi, honey! I didn’t know you were coming up today, especially in this weather.”

Blaine smiled at her. “Hi Caroline! My mom got called in and she asked me if I wanted to tag along.”

“Well, the floor is kind of quiet right now. A lot of the babies are taking their afternoon naps, so maybe we can hold off on the sing-along until later? Maybe you can peek into the different rooms, see if anyone is up for a chat.”

Blaine was a little disappointed. He was looking forward to singing and playing the guitar with the kids. Since the start of winter break Blaine hadn’t had much opportunity to sing, seeing as the Warblers’ practices were on hiatus until school resumed. His dad didn’t really appreciate impromptu concerts when he was trying to work through the latest deal, or when he was entertaining important guests for dinner. Even if Blaine couldn’t perform for the kids right now, he knew he’d get a chance later. For now, Blaine decided he would go visit one of his favourite patients on the floor.

Sierra was a year younger than Blaine, but she quickly became one of his best friends. Although her parents lived Westerville, their work kept them busy, so she was often seen spending time alone in her room. She and Blaine had actually become friends when he was fourteen years old. Sierra has just been diagnosed with leukemia and Blaine was actually a patient himself at the time. She had noticed that a lot of the little kids that had been around for a while were all flocking to a particular room. The news had gotten out that Blaine had been badly beaten at the annual Sadie Hawkins dance, where he dared to ask a boy to go as his date.

Sierra, October, 2008

_Sierra was sitting alone in her room, when, for what it seems like the fifth time today, she overheard a conversation between the nurses about the condition of a patient named Blaine. She had overheard a lot of the little kids asking their parents or their primary nurses if it was okay to visit with this Blaine. After trying to concentrate on her school work for a while, her curiosity got the best of her. Everyone seemed to be so concerned about this Blaine person, so she decided to go see for herself what the big deal was._

_Sierra climbed carefully out of bed, making sure not to tangle the tubes hanging from her IV pole. She slipped on her cosiest slippers and adjusted the scarf draped over her head. When Sierra had gotten the news that she would have to endure chemotherapy and that she would start losing her hair, she had decided to shave her head as soon as possible to spare herself the pain of waking up and seeing her hair disappearing little by little. Sierra shuffled out of her room and down the hallway toward where everyone had congregated earlier, although it seemed like no one was around at the moment. When she got to the door, she noticed the name written above the room number:_ Blaine Anderson. _Poking her head into the room, she gasped quietly. A boy, maybe a year or two older than her, was sitting alone in bed reading a_ Harry Potter _novel. Sierra figured the boy must have been pretty good looking, though she couldn’t tell through his badly beaten features. Several rows of stitches sat along his eyebrows and cheekbones and cuts littered his hands. His nose was bandaged (most likely broken) and the boy seemed to be breathing with a little difficulty because of a rib injury, she guessed. One time her idiot brother got into a drunken bar fight and his opponent kicked him several times in the ribs. For weeks he wasn’t able to talk loudly, or laugh, or even take a deep breath because it hurt so much. His hazel eyes were sad and his shoulders were tense. She hated to interrupt him but before she could turn away from the door, a sneeze took her by surprise. The boy looked up at her, startled._

_“I’m sorry, really. Shoot. I was trying to be all quiet and stuff because I didn’t interrupt you. I always hated when my mom would interrupt me in the middle of_ Order of the Phoenix…” _She trailed off. The boy was looking at her strangely._

_“_ Order of the Phoenix? _Is that your favourite book?” he asked, quietly._

_“Yes, it is. I know, it’s strange, but it’s always been my favourite,” she replied._

_“I don’t think it’s strange. My favourite is_ Goblet of Fire _and that’s practically the most disliked out of all the books.”_

_Sierra smiled, she liked this boy already. She walked into the room, tugging her IV pole along with her and sat down in the chair next to the boy’s bed._

_“Well, if Goblet of Fire is your favourite why are you reading_ Chamber of Secrets _?”_

_The boy almost started to laugh, and then stopped when he realized how much pain just exhaling caused him. He winced._

_“Well, I felt like starting from the beginning. I finished_ Philosopher’s Stone _this morning.”_

_“I see. I agree with you though, sometimes it’s always better to start from the beginning. I’m Sierra,” she held out her hand for him to shake._

_“I’m Blaine,” he said, his palm curling around hers. She could feel the raised cuts on the inside of his palm and made sure not to squeeze too hard._

_“So, if you don’t mind me being blunt, what happened to you exactly? I’ve been hearing your name all day. Why are you such a hotshot around here, huh?”_

_Blaine sighed._

_“I’ve been volunteering here since last year. I usually try to come around on the weekend and play guitar and have a sing along with all the little kids. They really like it. And sometimes we’ll all just sit and watch a movie, or I’ll read a story to them. The nurses are used to having me around, but I guess it just scared them to see me here as a patient. Especially when I look like this.”_

_“Well what happened?” she asked._

_“Two days ago, at my school’s Sadie Hawkins dance, my date and I were cornered by a few of the bullies. They didn’t quite appreciate our presence at their dance.”_

_“What? So they beat you and your date up for no reason? Did they get arrested? You can’t just go around beating up a guy and his girlfriend, that’s ridiculous!”_

_“Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t bring a girl to the dance. I brought a boy,” said Blaine quietly. Although he was looking down, Sierra could see the tears forming in his eyes._

_“Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s horrible, I’m so sorry they did that to you Blaine, you didn’t deserve it.”_

_Blaine looked at her and tried to smile. Sierra covered his hand with hers._

_“Okay, that’s enough. We don’t need to talk about it.”_

_“Well, okay…” said Blaine slowly. “Aren’t you going to tell me why you’re here?” He looked at her pointedly._

_“Fair’s fair I suppose,” she laughed. “I have cancer. Leukemia. They just diagnosed me. I’m starting chemotherapy tomorrow.”_

_“If you’ve only just been diagnosed, then why are you wearing a scarf on your head? Surely you haven’t lost your hair yet?”_

_“Observant are we? No, technically my hair hasn’t started falling out. I figured I’d rather beat them to the punch then watch my hair disappear.”_

_“You must be pretty brave,” said Blaine._

_“I don’t really have any other choice if I want to beat this thing,” she said strongly._

_“On one hand though, you do get to accessorize with scarves. The one you’re wearing right now is gorgeous, by the way.”_

_“So you’re one of those…” she said, teasingly._

_Blaine scrunched his nose, “What do you mean?”_

_“I’d never think you were a flamboyant gay,” she winked._

_“I’m not! Well, at least…I don’t think I am! You don’t have to be flamboyant to appreciate a good scarf.”_

_“True.”_

After that day, Blaine and Sierra became fast friends. Blaine always made sure to visit when she was in the hospital. When they were really lucky, Blaine was allowed to take Sierra to the movies, or to the mall. Over a period of two years, Sierra had gone between being sick, almost dying and getting increasingly better. Right now she was the latter, but she had been stuck in the hospital for most of December. On Christmas Eve Blaine had come to the hospital to make a deal with the nurses.  Blaine asked if they could deliver Sierra’s present before she woke up on Christmas morning, just like Santa Claus. Blaine hadn’t been able to make it to the hospital because of the busyness of the holidays, but Sierra had made a big deal about showing off her present via a mobile photo and making sure Blaine was happy with his DVD boxed sets of Queer As Folk (the note attached said, _Just make sure you don’t watch this around your parents!_ ).

Blaine didn’t bother to knock on the door when he got to Sierra’s room. Instead he managed to take a run and leap on Sierra’s bed, yelling out, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Sierra started to laugh as Blaine made his way up the bed, hugging his best friend when he reached her.

“Blainers, get off of me now.”

“What?” Blaine pouted. “No Christmas hug for your best friend?”

“Okay, fine. But then you need to get off.”

Blaine laughed. He ran his fingers through the silky material of the sky blue scarf wrapped around Sierra’s head.

“Such a beautiful scarf, who got it for you?”

“Blaine,” she laughed, “it was Santa, of course. Who else delivers presents in the middle of the night?”

“Oh, it that what they’re calling me now?” Blaine and Sierra both turned towards the door, where Caroline was standing, hands on her hips.

Sierra looked at her quizzically. “I thought Santa was from the North Pole, not Texas? I could have sworn he was a man, too…”

“Enough out of you,” said Caroline with a laugh. “Blaine, honey, can you do me a huge favour?”

Blaine sat up from the bed.

“I need you to go down to the ER and bring up a patient. It’s packed down there and the poor boy is completely alone. The doctor down there was willing to send him up here, where he’s not surrounded by crazy people. He’s got a suspected broken wrist, but he’s all by himself and the Orthopaedist said it was okay if he tended to him up here.”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Thank, honey. Here’s his info, make sure to ask the triage nurse to point you in the right direction. Don’t forget to check his bracelet either!” Blaine grabbed the piece of paper Caroline held out to him and made his way towards the elevators. The paper read:

_Kurt Hummel_

_DOB: 27/05/1994_

As Blaine approached the Emergency Room, his ears were filled with the normal cacophony of babies crying and inpatient people moaning and groaning about the wait time. Blaine approached the nurse at the triage desk.

“Hello, I’m looking for a patient by the name Kurt Hummel. I’m bringing him up to Peds.”

The nurse blinked at him, seemingly lost in thought.

“Kurt Hummel…yes, alright. He’s the one in the wheelchair by the vending machines. He’s wearing a very fancy jacket and scarf and is carrying a bag in his lap. You’ll see him, just go that way”. The nurse waved in a general direction. Blaine figured he’d better just look around.

After almost running into several stretchers randomly sitting in the hallway, Blaine spotted the row of vending machines. Next to them, a boy sat in a wheelchair, hugging his left arm close to his body. Blaine approached him.

“Hi, I’m Blaine.” He held out his right arm to shake hands with the boy.

He looked up at him. “Um…I can’t really…” The boy mumbled, gesturing to his injured arm.

_Woah, he looks really familiar._ Blaine noted the boy’s bright blue eyes and the light brown hair swept off his forehead. He was wearing a gorgeous navy jacket and a Marc Jacobs bag was sitting at his feet.

“Oh, god. Right, I’m sorry. Here.” Blaine awkwardly switched hands to shake Kurt’s right and laughed at himself. Blaine fumbles a little, struck by the gorgeousness of the boy. He noticed that his eyes were red rimmed and he had tear tracts along his rosy cheeks.

He cleared his throat. “I’m Kurt,” he said, as he held out his right hand. The boys clasped their hands together in a quick shake. Blaine noticed how soft Kurt’s hands were.

_I hope my calluses aren’t too noticeable,_ he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked the introduction of Sierra. She just kind of popped into my mind as I was writing this chapter at 1am. Maybe you’ll see her pop up again. I imagine her being blunt and snarky, which I figure kind of balances the gentleness and kindness of Blaine. Our boys FINALLY meet in this chapter. I intended to go a little farther in this chapter, but then I realized that I wanted to go back to Kurt. I promise, promise, the full-fledged Klaine will happen in the next chapter. I really like writing a little bit of Blaine’s background, since we don’t know anything about it! We all know who Kurt is and what’s happened to him, so I feel like I can give Blaine an interesting background. I hope you’ve liked reading so far!


	4. Chapter 4

Kurt (Present)

            _I need to stop crying, I need to_ stop crying.

            Kurt was sitting in the emergency room after Marie and Dennis had dropped him off.  His arm still hurt like a bitch, but it was more of a constant throbbing instead of a shooting pain that took his breath away. Kurt couldn’t remember what it was like to bend his left elbow. He was definitely sure he wouldn’t remember how to bend his wrist if it was stuck in a cast for 6 weeks. Thankfully, because Kurt was brought in an ambulance, he wasn’t forced to sit in the packed waiting room and was brought straight back to the triage area. His attending nurse asked a myriad of questions and he answered the best he could. The most important questions were about his insurance and all Kurt could do was produce his insurance card. If his dad had been around he was sure he’d be able to answer the nurse’s questions a lot easier.

            Kurt was becoming increasingly frustrated because it seemed like he was being completely ignored and at the same time being treated like a child. It took at least an hour for the doctor to come in and see him. While he was waiting, he tried to entertain himself on his phone, but he was told to shut it off because it was easy for the signal to mess around with the important machines in the hospital. As he was just sitting completely alone in the emergency room, it was easy for him to replay the fall over and over again in his head. He was embarrassed and felt utterly alone at that moment in time. Kurt couldn’t stop the stray tears falling from his eyes. Every time a nurse or a doctor walked by without stopping to talk with him, that prickling behind his eyes sparked up again. The only thing he wanted was someone to tell him it was going to be okay. He managed to call his dad on the phone at the Nurses’ Station and his dad told him it would be at least four or five hours before he could even make it. It was getting later in the afternoon and Kurt didn’t want his Dad to drive all the way from Columbus in the dark on the snow slick roads, but at the same time he didn’t want to be alone. All he wanted was someone to comfort him.

            Eventually a doctor with a white coat over his wrinkled hospital scrubs made his way to Kurt. Without even introducing himself, the doctor looked at his chart from the computer at the bedside, asked Kurt if he could see his wrist and said, “It’s definitely broken. I’ll set up some X-rays and I’ll call the Orthopaedist to come and take a look”. And he left.

Kurt sat there, blinking. _What just happened?_ Kurt was this close to whipping out his cell phone and selfishly requesting that his father get here as soon as possible because he knew his dad would use his big commandeering voice to get something done around here for his son. A few tears threatened to spill from his eyes. But he didn’t, because just then a nurse walked in with a clip board and smiled at him.

“You’re Kurt Hummel?” she asked.

Kurt sniffed and wiped his eyes quickly. “Yes”.

She looked at Kurt and began to dig around in her pocket. She produced a packet of Kleenex.

“Here, take one”. She took a Kleenex out of the pack and handed it to Kurt. He quickly wiped his eyes and his nose.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I just spoke with the attending ER Doctor, who just came in to see you not that long ago. He told me to bring you to get some X-Rays done.  He also called the Orthopaedist, who said it would be better if he treated you up on the Paediatrics floor because it is pure insanity down here.  So I’m going to move you out of this bed and I’ll bring you to X-ray really quick.”

Kurt wrinkled his nose. “Paediatrics? Aren’t I a little old for that classification?”

“Afraid not. You are considered a paediatric patient until you are 18 years old. Trust me, it’s a lot more fun up there anyways. Don’t take it for granted.”

The nurse helped Kurt off the bed and into a wheelchair. She wheeled him out of the room and parked him in a dark room with a large X-Ray machine and lighted boxes on the walls.

“I could have just walked, you know,” Kurt said.

“Hospital policy, nothing I can do about it kid. If you need anything, just holler.”

The X-ray technician quickly introduced himself to Kurt and set his arm up for X-Rays. After a few quick flashes of the camera and changes of position, Kurt was finished. The nurse had returned and parked his wheelchair next to a row of vending machines.

“Someone from Paediatrics is on their way down to come get you,” she said as she walked away.

Kurt was alone again. Still, no one had given him even just a Tylenol or something to dull the pain in his wrist. His dad and Carole were still in Columbus as far as he knew. The prickling behind his eyes sparked up again.

_No, no, not more tears! Why can’t I stop? One broken wrist and it’s like a dam’s opened up._

Kurt sank down into the uncomfortable wheelchair and let his mind wander to his recurring daydream of starring on Broadway to take his mind of the situation. Kurt was in the middle of running through his take on _Wicked_ (As none other than Glinda) when someone suddenly was standing right in front of him. Kurt looked up and was taken aback. The teenager, who looked around Kurt’s age, was wearing a light blue polo and a name badge that signified he was a volunteer at the hospital. Kurt thought a dark wash pair of jeans was better suited than the khakis the boy was wearing, but his Sketchers fit the mould of sensible, yet stylish.

“Hi, I’m Blaine.”The boy held out his right hand to Kurt in greeting. Kurt tried to hide the smile that threatened to creep up on his face. It’s like Blaine has this infectious happiness that spread through him. Kurt swore he looked familiar as well. Something about the big smile on his face and the way he projected himself. Kurt noticed that Blaine wanted to shake hands with the one that was currently clutched to his chest.

“Um…I can’t really…” Kurt gestured to his injured arm.

Kurt stomach swooped a little when Blaine fumbled to switch hands and let out a laugh.

_He is just adorable._

“I’m Kurt,” he said, clasping his hand with Blaine’s. The warmth from Blaine’s hand sent shivers down his spine. After being alone and in such an emotionally wrought state for so long a time, even just a warm handshake made Kurt feel a fraction better.

“You must be the Kurt I’m looking for then. I don’t see any teenagers sitting around wearing a Marc Jacobs jacket and bag.”

Kurt tilted his head in confusion. “That may be so, but how do you know I’m Kurt by my designer clothing?”

Blaine laughed. “The only things the triage nurse remembered you by were, in her words, a fancy jacket and scarf. Plus I can see your name and birthdate on your hospital ID bracelet”.

Kurt blushed, “Well I guess both you and the nurse have good taste”.

Blaine smiled. “So, I’m here to take you up to the Paediatrics floor so you can get your arm looked at”.

“Finally!” Kurt huffed. “I’ve been waiting for hours and no one’s given me anything for the pain at all.”

“Does it hurt a lot?” Blaine looked at him worriedly. “Maybe I can get my mom or someone to give you something if it’s really bad.”

Kurt looked at him in disbelief, “Your mom, Blaine?”

“Yeah, my mom’s a Paediatric surgeon here. I bet if I just called her and asked her maybe she could prescribe you something…” He trailed off.

_Is he actually serious right now? This gorgeous, adorable guy is offering to find his mom for me just so I can get a Tylenol or something. Wow. Is he real? Are there people this nice in real life? Maybe I hit my head and am hallucinating right now._

Kurt was so touched by Blaine’s offer that he started to cry, _again._ No one was this nice to Kurt other than his family and Mercedes. Kurt couldn’t even remember the last time a guy was so nice to him.

As soon as Blaine noticed Kurt was crying, he was stricken. Kurt could see the emotions written all over his face and immediately went into damage control.

“Blaine, it’s okay. My wrist doesn’t hurt as much as it did before. I can wait until the doctor comes to see me. Don’t bug your mom; I’m sure she’s busy.” Kurt sighed.

“Well, if you’re really okay, why are you crying?” Blaine said softly.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just been an emotional kind of day. Definitely not the kind of day you want to spend alone,” said Kurt, eyes down. “With the sheer number of times I’ve been thrown into the dumpsters or shoved into lockers at school for being gay; it figures I break my wrist slipping on an icy driveway.”

“Been there, done that.” Blaine placed a warm hand on Kurt’s shoulder, comfortingly.

 _Oh my gosh, he’s touching my shoulder. How can a hand be this warm?_ Kurt could feel the rush of warmth through his shoulder and down his chest. He wasn’t sure if this was from the actual warmth of Blaine’s hand, or the fact that an extremely cute boy was being nice to him.

“You’ve been bullied too?” Kurt asked quietly.

            “Unfortunately joining the school musical is enough for all of your friends to become homophobic bullies.” Kurt’s eyes widened.

            _Please tell me that this wonderful, beautiful guy is gay. Please, please, let something be in my favour for once in my life,_ thought Kurt.

            “So you’re…” Kurt started.

            Blaine raised his eyebrows. “Gay? Yes. I don’t think a lot of straight guys can recognize a Marc Jacobs, don’t you think?” Blaine said with a laugh. “Let’s get going, shall we? I’m sure the nurses expected us a while ago.” Blaine stepped behind Kurt’s wheelchair and began to push him towards the elevators.

“So where are your parents exactly?”

“My dad and step-mom Carole and step-brother Finn left a couple of days ago to go visit Carole’s parents. I asked my dad if it was okay to stay home because one of the girls from Glee was having her birthday party and I didn’t want to miss it.”

Blaine stopped.

“Glee? As in, Glee club? At your school?” he asked.

Kurt looked up at him strangely, “Yeah…? I go to McKinley—”

Blaine gasped loudly. “The New Directions! You’re from New Directions! I _knew_ I recognized you!”

Kurt’s eyes widened. A memory of a boy dressed in a navy blazer and a red striped tie singing with a group of identically dressed boys flashed through his mind. 

 _That was the dreamiest version of_ Hey, Soul Sister _I had ever heard,_ he thought.

“You’re the lead soloist of the Dalton Academy Warblers! I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. Maybe it’s because your hair is different,” said Kurt.

Blaine laughed, “I didn’t have a lot of time to style my hair before we left.”

“Size of a dime, that’s all you need,” Kurt chimed. “Besides, I like it like that. It’s more natural.” Kurt sucked in a breath, realizing what he just said.

 _Are you insane? You can’t just go around complimenting cute guys like that!_ He thought, angry at himself for letting his guard slip.

Blaine blushed right up to the tips of his ears. “Thanks.”

Blaine started to push Kurt’s wheelchair again, leading them to the elevator.

“Let’s go up, shall we?”

“Might as well get this over with,” Kurt huffed.

When Blaine pushed Kurt off the elevator stopped at the fifth floor, they were greeted by Caroline.

“There you are Blaine! I was wondering where you had gone off to.”

“I was just talking to Kurt, Caroline.”

She smiled down at Kurt. “Hi sweetheart, I’m Caroline. I’ll be your nurse today. Let’s get you settled and I’ll page Dr. Robinson to come take a look at your arm.”

Kurt smiled and nodded at her. She took Blaine’s place from behind Kurt’s wheelchair and started pushing him towards his room. She looked at Blaine behind her and mouthed, “He’s cute!” at him, Kurt being completely unaware of what was going on.

“Coming, Blaine?” She chirped. 

“If it’s alright with Kurt.”

Kurt’s heart fluttered. A cute boy wanted to spend time with _him_? Kurt couldn’t believe it. Kurt found that he never really hung out with the guys from Glee because they had nothing in common. Yes, the guys had all become more protective and accepting of Kurt when they found out about Karofsky’s bullying and had started to invite him to hang out with them. Kurt usually declined, because he knew he wouldn’t really enjoy himself playing video games or watching football. Kurt would much rather spend time with the Glee girls, where he could talk about fashion and musicals as much as he wanted and feel completely comfortable. Just the fact that Blaine wanted to simply sit and spend time with Kurt was completely foreign to him.

“Of course it is Blaine,” he replied softly.

Caroline has lead Kurt into a brightly coloured room with a single bed sitting in the middle.

“You’re so special, you get your own room Kurt,” Caroline winked.

“Well, of course. I’ve been waiting long enough to be seen, I’d better get some special attention!” Kurt burst into laughter. “I can’t even say that with a straight face! I don’t know if I’m trying to be funny or if I’m actually being honest.”

“Don’t worry honey, it’s completely understandable. I’ve encountered meaner five year olds. Some of them think that because they are wearing tiaras, means they are the Kings and Queens of the world.”

Kurt smiled to himself, thinking of his own tiara collection hidden underneath his bed.

“Let’s get you settled. Blaine, can you help Kurt get his jacket and boots off and settle him in bed? I’m going to go call the doctor.”

“Here, grip onto my hand and I’ll help pull you up.”

Kurt gripped tightly onto Blaine’s left hand with his right and Blaine pulled Kurt towards him as Kurt tried to push up with his legs. Because Kurt couldn’t support his weight with both arms, he was unbalanced. Kurt was almost out the chair when he quickly fell backwards, tugging Blaine along with him. The force of Kurt falling backwards propelled Blaine forward, almost smacking completely into Kurt. Blaine managed to catch himself on the arms of the wheelchair, saving himself from possibly injuring Kurt even more. He did somehow manage to get his face less than a couple of inches away from Kurt’s own. Kurt was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a second because Blaine was _flawless_ and his eyes were the most beautiful mix of greens and browns.

“Kurt?” Blaine’s voice sounded distant. “ _Kurt.”_

He blinked, registering that Blaine was actually talking to him.

“Hmm..what?” Kurt blinks out of his reverie.

Blaine laughed softly, warm coffee scented breath drifting over Kurt’s face.  “Are you okay?”

Kurt smiled. “Oh, I’m fine. I’m glad you at least managed to catch yourself before I ended up with more than a broken wrist and you ended up with a cracked skull or something.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” said Blaine quietly under his breath.

 _“Did he just insinuate that he’s had his skull cracked open before? What in the world…”_ thought Kurt.

“Wha—.” Kurt was interrupted by Blaine just has he was about to ask him to elaborate.

“Okay, so this time, I’ll have to support more of your weight to help you up.”

Kurt was a little taken aback when Blaine completely brushed over the subject. _You can’t just say you’ve had your skull cracked open and not elaborate on it. Maybe it’s a touchy subject._ Kurt looked at Blaine thoughtfully. He noticed that some of the brightness from his eyes had dulled with the quick change of subject. Kurt figured he’d better just leave it alone for now.

“What do you propose?”

“I’ll tuck my arm under your injured arm, wrapping it around your back you I can help you up and you can use your good arm on the armrest to help push you up.”

Kurt nodded.

Suddenly Blaine was _this close_ to Kurt’s face and he couldn’t help but shiver a little. He caught a whiff of a delightfully spicy, woodsy scent coming from Blaine as he leaned closer to Kurt, carefully placing his arm under Kurt’s left armpit and wrapping it around his back. Kurt’s heart was pounding. _I really need to calm down._

“Are you ready?” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s ear.

“Yeah.”

“On the count of three, okay? One, two…” On three, Kurt pushed his right hand down on the arm of the chair and pushed his legs upwards as Blaine lifted him slightly, supporting his weak side. After Kurt was out of the chair he _swore_ Blaine’s arm lingered a little longer than it should along his back.

“Success!” Blaine pumped a fist in the air, almost tripping on his own feet as he scrambled to move his arm off Kurt’s back.

Kurt just shook his head at him, laughing. “I guess I’d better get into bed, right, Mr. Volunteer?”

Blaine nodded, “Probably. You’ll have to take your jacket off though. Are you wearing long sleeves underneath?”

“No, I’m just wearing a t-shirt. Not my first choice for a winter day like this, but I just getting ready to make breakfast when I went to go get my iPod from the car and slipped and fell. I was freezing downstairs. They made me take my jacket off for the X-ray and I’m pretty sure the technician wasn’t too pleased when I asked him to help me put my jacket back on.”

“And why’s that?”

“I’m pretty sure no one wants to face the wrath of a Hummel, especially when he is cranky and in pain.”

Blaine gave him a sympathetic look. “I promise I’ll be super extra careful okay? You have my full permission to cause me pain if I cause you pain, deal?”

“Deal.”

Blaine got to work on undoing the wooden toggles along the center of the coat and unzipping the zipper. He helped Kurt work his right arm out of its sleeve.

“Ready?”

Kurt sucked in a breath and nodded. He straightened his left arm out slowly and Blaine started to gently pull the sleeve off Kurt’s arm. Kurt was tense and his eyes were shut tight. He was silently willing Blaine to go as slow as possible as to not jostle his wrist. The intense pain in his wrist had finally abated into a low throbbing that he barely paid any attention to since his introduction to Blaine. He knew that any slight movement would cause a shooting pain that he was prepared to deal with again since the pain had lessened. Blaine almost had the sleeve off when he twisted his movement just a fraction and the white hot pain shot up Kurt’s arm. He hissed and squeezed his eyes shut, tears pooling behind his eyelids.

Blaine gasped. “Oh my god Kurt, I’m so sorry. I was trying to be careful I swear.”

“It’s okay Blaine, I know you were trying to be careful.” He blinked a few times, willing the tears to disappear, but instead they fell and rolled down his cheeks.

“You’re crying,” said Blaine softly. He wiped a tear from Kurt’s cheek with his thumb. Kurt took in a sharp breath. The soft touch of Blaine’s thumb on his cheek felt electric. He let out a small laugh.

“I forgot to brace myself, just in case.”

Blaine just looked at him, his hazel eyes soft and sad.  Suddenly Blaine was wrapped around him, hugging him tightly, but carefully avoiding the hurt arm pressed against Kurt’s chest. He melted into the embrace, letting Blaine hold him up for just a minute.

_When was the last time I was held?_

Kurt tried to stop the million thoughts running through his mind and tried to focus on the soft squeeze of Blaine’s arms around his midsection, the warm breath puffing lightly against his neck, the smell of mint coming from Blaine’s hair, the warmth enveloping him. Kurt could feel the tension and loneliness from the emotional day leaving his body.

After what seems like way too short of a time, Blaine’s arms left him. Kurt could feel the tips of his ears burning red hot from the flush. Blaine was looking down at the ground with a sheepish smile on his face. Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room. Both of the boys jumped to the sound coming from the doorway. A man wearing a white coat over a t-shirt and dark wash jeans entered the room. Kurt was taken aback from the young and carefree appearance of the Doctor. It must have shown on his face because Blaine quickly whispered into his ear, “he likes to dress more casually to make him seem more approachable to the kids”.

“Am I interrupting?” The doctor raised an eyebrow. Kurt and Blaine were pressed shoulder to shoulder. They jumped apart. The doctor laughed.

“I didn’t think you’d be here on a day like today, Blaine!” said the doctor.

“My mom had emergency surgery and asked me if I wanted to come along.”

“Oh, right.” He nodded his head. “I thought I saw her name on the board downstairs. Anyways, shall we get started?” He looked over at Kurt and smiled. “You must be Kurt”.

Kurt nodded.

“I’m Doctor Robinson. Why don’t you take a seat on the bed Kurt? I have your X-rays here with me but I haven’t looked at them yet. I figured we could look at them together. Feel like learning about bones today Kurt?”

Kurt laughed, “Sure, why not?”

“Will you be staying for the lesson Blaine, or do you have things to do?”

“Of course I’ll stay!”  Blaine sat down next to Kurt on the bed. Kurt was relieved. He didn’t want Blaine to leave just yet. His presence was comforting and Kurt had a feeling his discomfort was far from over. Even though they hadn’t known each other for that long, Kurt felt like Blaine was keeping him together.

Dr. Robinson placed the X-ray films over the light boxes situated on the wall across from Kurt’s bed and flicked on the light. The two films showed different positions of Kurt’s left wrist.  If he looked closely he could spot the line of a fracture in a bone underneath his thumb and then lower down, past the tiny little bones, on a long bone.

“This is Kurt’s left wrist and hand. The wrist is made up of 8 little bones called the carpals. Kurt, when you broke your fall, the force fractured this bone here, called the scaphoid.” The doctor pointed to the tiny bone under Kurt’s thumb. “You also have a fracture just under the head of the radius, which is this long bone here, which makes up half your forearm. This means I’ll have to put a cast on and it’ll stay on for 6 weeks. After that you’ll need to do some physical therapy to loosen up your wrist and gain back the strength you will lose during the 6 weeks and you should be back to normal in no time.”

Kurt paled. He really didn’t know what he should expect from this, but now that he’s finally seen a doctor he realized that he really is going to be stuck with a cast for 6 weeks. _How am I going to shower? Or do my hair?_ He was becoming increasingly panicked and he started to feel a little nauseous and the room started to spin. The doctor looked over at him and rushed over, noticing Kurt’s expression and the loss of colour from Kurt’s face.

“Kurt, are you feeling okay?” The doctor asked worriedly.

Kurt blinked and took in a deep breath. “I don’t feel well. I’m feeling kind of dizzy.” He started to lean over towards Blaine. Blaine placed a hand on his shoulder, steadying him.

“Okay Kurt, lay down. When was the last time you ate or drank anything?” asked the doctor.

Kurt racked his brain. He never did get around to making that omelette.

“Yesterday,” he replied.

“I’m going to have to start and IV on you Kurt.” Kurt gasped, horrified. He _hated_ needles. “You are probably dehydrated and your blood sugar must be quite low. I’ll go get the nurse and then I’ll go fetch all the supplies I need to set the cast. You’re lucky that the break wasn’t too bad. I won’t need to see the bones at all, but I know you are still in a little pain. I’ll prescribe something that will dull the pain and relax you.”

The doctor left and the room was silent. Kurt’s heart was beating quickly out of panic and he felt like his breathing was laboured. Blaine looked over at him, concerned.

“I’m just a little panicky right now. It all seems like a little much. This is saying a lot because I’ve been waiting for hours to get my arm looked at. Why am I freaking out _now_ , when everything is falling into place? Plus, I hate needles.”

“Listen, you aren’t the only one. I hate needles too. Thank god I was unconscious when they had to put an IV in my arm when I was in the hospital, or I’m sure I would have passed out again or at least made a fool of myself,” said Blaine.

“Why were you in the hospital before Blaine? If you don’t mind me asking…”

Just then Caroline walked into the room carrying a bunch of supplies with her.

“I promise I’ll tell you later Kurt,” Blaine whispered in Kurt’s ear.

Caroline put down her supplies on the table next to Kurt’s bed and pumped some hand sanitizer into her palms and rubbed them. “Kurt, honey, I’m going to start your IV for you, alright?” Kurt swallowed. She snapped on some gloves, he winced.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry,” said Blaine, quietly.

“Feel like switching places with me then?” replied Kurt.

Blaine smiled, “No way in hell.”

“I would say good thing Blaine is here, but it seems like you are out of luck with your injury,” said Caroline.

Kurt had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“What do you mean?”

“I know for a fact that Blaine is an expert at this kind of thing. All the little ones ask for Blaine when he’s around to cuddle them or hold their hand when they have to get a needle. But, of course, it’d be impossible for him to hold your hand.”

“Really?” said Kurt. _Is he real? That is the most adorable thing I have ever heard._

Blaine laughs sheepishly, “Yeah, I don’t really know why…” _The charm, good looks, infectious smile and kind personality…_ “But they just kind of get attached to me. It’s sweet. It’s nice to feel big once in a while.”

“It’s almost cavity inducing,” Caroline quips. Blaine rolls his eyes. “Okay, ready?”

Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes and turned his head towards his left side, where Blaine was sitting. As soon as he felt the cold swipe of the alcohol swab on his hand Kurt tried to focus on the warm press of Blaine’s arm against his.

“Hey, just look at me. It’ll be over before you know it,” said Blaine.

Kurt focused on Blaine’s hazel eyes. He may have melted a little. He barely felt the prick of the needle before he registered the sound of Caroline taking her gloves off.

“See, was that so bad Kurt?”

 _I may have been a little distracted by the gorgeous boy sitting next to me,_ he thought.

“I guess not,” Kurt said with a pout.

 Caroline busied herself disposing of her supplies and writing something on his chart. Before long Dr. Robinson returned with his hands full of the materials he needed to make Kurt’s cast. Before he came over to Kurt and Blaine, he stopped and starting talking quietly with Caroline. Caroline nodded, agreeing with whatever the doctor had said and she walked out of the room before Kurt knew what they were talking about. The doctor started to arrange the materials for the cast along one of the tables close to Kurt’s bed.

“Have you thought about what colour you would like for your cast, Kurt?” the doctor asked.

“Um…no. What are my options?” he asked. The doctor pulled out several rolls of the casting material, lining up fluorescent pink, green, yellow, an ugly red, black, dark blue and a simple white.

“Well, there’s no way I can pull off fluorescents without it being a target of sorts and the red kind of makes me want to throw up a little. The white would be good for people to sign, but it would also stain and get dirty easily. Black or blue might be okay…I don’t know. I can’t decide. What do you think Blaine?”

Blaine studied the colours, looking thoughtful. “Black would be easy to pair with anything I think, navy, not so much, although I am biased. If only you went to Dalton Kurt. The navy would fit in perfectly with the blazer,” Blaine said with a smile.

“Oh, please. Those blazers are so boxy they’d cover the cast completely. Have you ever thought of tailoring those blazers? Seriously.”

Blaine laughed loudly. “I guess I’d never put much thought into it.”

Kurt sighed, “I guess I’ll pick black. I can always work around black and it does accessorize beautifully.”

“Plus,” added Blaine, “You can buy a metallic silver sharpie and that way people can still sign your cast!”

“Blaine, where can you even _find_ a silver sharpie?”

“Target,” Blaine said, bluntly.

Kurt scrunched his nose, “Target? Ew.”

“Yes Kurt, Target. It’s really not that bad. You just have to give it a chance.”

“Blaine,” Kurt started, indignantly, “Target is a place…”He was cut off by Dr. Robinson before he could even begin his five minute rant about why Target was horrible.

“As much as I’d love to hear why Kurt doesn’t like Target, I think I should get started on the cast, yes?’ Caroline walked in behind the doctor, carrying several capped syringes in her hands. Kurt almost knocked Blaine over as he recoiled from the sight of the needles. He blanched. Blaine steadied his shoulders so Kurt wouldn’t fall over.

Caroline noticed the look on Kurt’s face and said, “Relax honey. I’ll be injecting these into the port in your IV, you won’t feel a thing.”

Kurt slumped under Blaine’s grasp, visibly relaxed. As Caroline prepared the syringes, Kurt still refused to even look in her direction. Just seeing the needles freaked him out.

“Okay, all done.”

A minute later, Kurt started to feel very relaxed. It seemed like the pent up tension and anxiety from the day was slowly melting away. The distant throbbing in his wrist was dissipating quickly.

“What did you give me Caroline?”

“Oh, just a little something to help you relax a bit. Dr. Robinson will be jostling your wrist a bit as he puts the cast on and it’ll probably hurt, so he decided to order you some medication to sedate you a little.”

“Oh god, please tell me this isn’t something that’s going to make me loopy. It’s not morphine is it? Meredith was crazy when they gave her morphine for her appendicitis in _Grey’s Anatomy_!”

“Hey, I loved that episode!” Blaine quipped.

Caroline laughed, “No, but, if anything you’ll fall asleep”.

The doctor asked Kurt to sit up and hold his arm out while he started to apply the cast. He was finding it increasingly difficult to hold his arm up and sit up straight. He kept blinking, trying to avoid falling asleep.

“Caroline, I think you gave me too much of that stuff,” he said sleepily. “Are we almost done? I feel like I’m about to fall dead asleep.” He swayed, almost falling back.

“Blaine, do you think you could get behind Kurt and help him sit up? Maybe even help him support his arm,” asked the doctor.

Blaine shifted behind Kurt, placing himself behind him and holding up his arm with one of his own as the doctor worked quickly to cast Kurt’s arm. Kurt barely registered what was happening. All he could think about was how warm and comfortable he felt with Blaine practically wrapped around him, helping him stay sitting up.

Kurt fell asleep before the doctor even finished the cast, his head falling back into the crook of Blaine’s neck. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to note that this chapter is highly exaggerated. I don’t know anything about broken bones, except the actual bones and where they are in the arm. Anything medical that happens in this chapter is probably highly unlikely. Like I said, I wouldn’t know. Kurt would never get sent up to another floor unless his break was really bad, he wouldn’t get his own room and he probably wouldn’t be given anything except for maybe Tylenol or something. I over exaggerate the pain a lot. I just wanted lots of opportunity for fluffy Klaine. I also know Kurt cries a lot, but I figure that could be a pretty normal representation. I myself would be very upset and would probably cry a lot if I were alone, injured and scared in the hospital. I also tend to cry when someone does something really nice for me, like when Blaine offers to stay with Kurt. 
> 
> 2013 Katelyn is very happy that 2011 Katelyn acknowledged how schmoopy and unlikely this is. Hopefully the fluff is cavity inducing. Because at this point I've worked on several medical floors and yeah this would never happen. But hopefully you enjoyed anyways.


	5. Chapter 5

Blaine (Present)

            “Caroline, what did you do?” The nurse and the Doctor were both looking at Blaine, slightly alarmed. Kurt had practically collapsed into Blaine as the sedation kicked in and Blaine was struggling under the warm weight of Kurt as he tried to keep him sitting up and support the arm that the doctor hadn’t finished casting. While Blaine had to admit that if he didn’t have to support Kurt’s arm so the cast wouldn’t get messed up, this would have felt pretty nice. Kurt’s head was snuggled in between his neck and his shoulder and his hair just smelt _so good._

            _Get a hold of yourself! Boundaries, Blaine. You met Kurt_ today. _That doesn’t give you the right to smell his hair and act like this is a completely normal interaction between a volunteer and a patient,_ he thought.

            Looking back on his actions of the day, Blaine wasn’t incredibly proud of himself. He knew better than to be like this, spending all day with one patient, encouraging them to find solace just by looking at you so you could unrequitedly stare into their crystal blue eyes, hugging them, sitting with arms pressed close all afternoon…But, then again, this wasn’t just any patient. This was Kurt. He couldn’t help himself, really. Kurt was so vulnerable. Although he had never met Kurt before, he had a feeling Kurt wasn’t so open with anyone as much as he was today talking to Blaine. The way his eyes shone when he found out Blaine was gay; well…he didn’t want to admit to himself that his stomach did a couple of flips. Although they didn’t have much time to talk, Blaine knew they already had a few things in common: they both were bullied for being gay, they both were in their respective Glee clubs and Blaine had a feeling they both had an appreciation for Vogue, if only because he swore he saw Kurt’s Marc Jacobs jacket in the October issue. Blaine knew it must be difficult for Kurt to be at McKinley. He couldn’t imagine that a lot of the kids there were very accepting of gay people, much like Blaine’s old high school.

            _He must be brave,_ thought Blaine. Ohio was so restricting for gay people and Blaine could only imagine how much stuff Kurt had to go through on a daily basis at school. Blaine shuddered at the sinking feeling in his stomach. Just thinking of Kurt being thrown against lockers and thrown into dumpsters made him feel sick. Kurt didn’t deserve that. No more than Blaine deserved to get the crap beating out of him for asking a boy he liked to the Sadie Hawkins dance. Blaine let out a sigh. Usually he tried to avoid thinking deeply about the homophobia plaguing the country because he always ended up in the worst mood. He definitely was not in a bad position currently, with Kurt in his arms, dead asleep and he decided to place these thoughts in the back of his mind for now so he wouldn’t get all worked up.

            “No need to worry,” said the doctor, laughing a little. “Kurt hasn’t eaten anything all day, so the medication worked a little faster than we thought it would and had a little extra punch. He’ll be fine. I don’t think Blaine minds though, do you Caroline?”

“Not at all,” she said with a smirk. Blaine glared at her across the room. The doctor quickly finished off the cast and helped Blaine disentangle himself from Kurt and settled him comfortably in the bed. Blaine didn’t have the heart or willpower to follow the doctor and Caroline out the door. Kurt’s family still hadn’t made it in from Columbus and Blaine knew how scary it was to wake up alone, disorientated from medication.

**Blaine,  October, 2008**

            _Before he even opened his eyes, Blaine was conscious of the steady beeping coming from something on his left side. His head felt heavy and his eyelids felt weighed down by an invisible force. As he became more aware, Blaine was conscious of a constant throbbing_ everywhere _in his body. He struggled to open his eyes and he started to panic when they wouldn’t open immediately. The steady beeping next to his head picked up._ What’s going on? _He tried to take a deep breath to compose himself but he was stopped mid breath from a intense burning throughout his chest. He thought back to the Sadie Hawkins dance and the hard kicks to his sides. Blaine was pretty sure he wasn’t in this much pain while he was being beaten within an inch of his life. He tried to focus on opening his eyes, but the pain coursing through his body was distracting and the heaviness of sleep was calling him._

Just open your eyes Blaine; it’s not that hard, _he thought._

 _He powered through the heaviness and finally, success. Blaine realized he was in a hospital room, a room that was fairly similar to the ones he had been in many times while volunteering. His heart sunk when he looked around the room and his parents were nowhere to be found. He closed his eyes again. He didn’t even know what day it was, or if he was truly okay. Panic rose up in his chest again,_ What if I’m not okay? What if something is really wrong? What if I’m not actually here and I’m just imagining all of this? _Tears sparked up in Blaine’s eyes and the beeping next to him was becoming steadily faster. Suddenly Blaine turned his attention to the unmistakable squeaking of rubber soles against linoleum._

_“Blaine?” Caroline’s sweet southern drawl soothed a little of Blaine’s panic._

_“Caroline?” Blaine voice came out as a squeaky whisper. He let out a painful sob. “What’s going on? Am I okay?”_

_Blaine felt the cool press of Caroline’s hand on his warm forehead, pushing back his matted curls._

_“Everything’s gonna be okay, honey. Don’t you worry. We’ve been taking good care of you. You’re mama’s just downstairs getting a cup of coffee. She’ll be back soon.”_

_“What about…?” He whispered._

_“He’s fine,” Caroline said pointedly. “Don’t worry about it right now, okay? Everything’s been taken care of.”_

_The beeping next to Blaine’s head slowed down once more._

_“Caroline, what in the world is that beeping coming from?”_

_She laughed softly, “It’s your heart monitor, sweetie.”_

_Blaine looked at her, alarmed. “Did I actually need one of those Caroline?”_

_“It’s nothing to worry about Blaine; you were out for two days. We needed to make sure we knew your health status at all times.”_

_“I was asleep for two days? Really? Is that normal?” Blaine looked up at Caroline with fear in his eyes._

_Caroline sat down next to Blaine on the bed and took his hand with her own._

_“We’ve been giving you morphine for the pain, honey. You were practically hysterical when they brought you in because you were in so much pain and you were so terrified. They didn’t want you to make any of your own injuries worse, so they decided to sedate you for at least a couple of days. Your doctor told me this morning to lessen the dose, so that’s why you are awake and talking to me right now.”_

_Blaine suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired from his short bout of panic. Caroline’s presence was comforting and Blaine felt safe enough to fall back asleep. As long as Caroline was watching him, he knew he’d be fine._

_“Can I go back to sleep Caroline?” he asked quietly._

_“Of course, sweetie. I’m not letting you stay in dreamland for quite as long this time though, okay? I missed you.”_

_Blaine hummed. “Can you stay until I fall asleep? I don’t want to be by myself.”_

_Caroline gripped his hand a little tighter, anchoring herself to the sweet boy._

_“Of course.”_

**Blaine, Present**

Blaine was sitting next to Kurt’s bed, his elbows leaning on the bed and his head resting on his forearms. He was drifting between daydreaming and dozing. Kurt was still sleeping peacefully next to him, his casted arm resting close to Blaine’s face. Kurt had been asleep for an hour and thankfully Blaine’s mother hadn’t finished her surgery. Blaine didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.

“Pssst. Blaine!”

Blaine turned his head towards the loud whisper coming from the door. Sierra was standing at the door, hip cocked and her eyebrow raised. She held a Kindle and a Sharpie in her hand.

“Sierra? What are you doing?” Blaine asked quietly.

Sierra walked towards him and held out the objects in her hand.

“Caroline stopped by and I asked her where you went. I thought you got locked in the morgue or something. She led me here and told me about your new crush,” she said, drawing out the last work in a sing song voice. “So, this is Kurt? He’s cute Blaine. You should ask him out.”

“Sierra, we just met today. We barely know each other!” Blaine whispered. “Will you at least lower your voice a decibel or two? Don’t wake him up. He’s had a bad day.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure his day got a lot better when he met you,” she said with a wink. “Anyways, here, I brought you entertainment.” She held out her Kindle and the sharpie.

Blaine took the things from her, puzzled by the marker. “What’s this for?”

Sierra rolled her eyes, “Blaine. Kurt has a cast on his arm. He’s asleep. It’s like the universe wants you to draw silly things on it.”

Blaine frowned at her. “No. No way. Kurt would kill me. He’s very fashion conscious Sierra, I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate silly doodles drawn in silver on his cast.”

She smiled and shook her head at Blaine, “Always the dapper gentleman, aren’t you? Or maybe it’s because you’re just in love.”

Blaine huffed out a breath, “Will you stop teasing me please?”

“Fine, but come with me for just a second. I want to talk to you for real and I don’t want to whisper anymore.”

“But…” Blaine looked over at Kurt’s relaxed form.

“Sleeping beauty will be fine; we’re just going outside in the hall for a minute. Calm down.”

Blaine relented and followed Sierra out the door. He was restless anyways. A niggling thought in the back of his mind was replaying over and over, convincing him that he was being entirely too creepy for staying at Kurt’s bedside while he was sleeping when they had just met. He mentally forbade himself from staring at Kurt’s angelic face, but he broken his own rules frequently. He couldn’t help it. Kurt must have been the most gorgeous boy he’d ever seen. He knew his best friend would kick him off the Kurt induced cloud he’d been drifting on all day. He shut the door behind him and positioned himself so he had a view of Kurt from the little window set in the door.

Sierra placed her hands on her hips, “Spill, Frodo. You haven’t taken your eyes off him since I got here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much. What’s the deal?”

 _Always with the short jokes,_ he thought, miffed. He sighed. “I don’t know what it is…but from the moment I met him, I felt like we had a connection, you know? And I feel like slapping myself upside the head, because I don’t think I’ve ever been like this. I’ve never been so completely smitten with someone I barely know.”

Sierra looked at him fondly. “Maybe it’s because you’re allowed to now, Blaine. Now that you’re at Dalton, you’re safe to be with whoever you want.”

Blaine just looked at her, pain in his eyes. “But that’s the thing. Kurt _isn’t at_ Dalton, See. He’s stuck at McKinley, where the bullies run the place. You know what he told me today? He said he’s thrown into lockers and dumpsters on a daily basis. What if he gets hurt really badly one day because the bullies at his school found out he has a gay friend?”

“Blaine, first of all, be honest. You don’t want to be just friends with Kurt. It’s all over your face. Second of all, I know you’re thinking of that damned Sadie Hawkins dance and you need to stop it right now. That was a long time ago, Blaine. You’re safe now at Dalton.”

Blaine let out a resigned sigh. “Just because I’m safe at Dalton now, doesn’t mean I’ll be safe in the real world. You can’t run from the real world, See.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Who says you ran?”

Blaine didn’t answer. “Kurt is a lot braver than I’ll ever be,” Blaine sniffed as a few tears welled up in his eyes. Sierra wrapped her arms around him.

“Blaine Anderson, you are brave. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but as long as I’ve known you, I thought you were the bravest kid I knew. No, you didn’t go back to that school after you got the crap beaten out of you. But you know what you did in the first place? You weren’t scared to bring a boy you liked to a dance. _In Ohio._ You didn’t care if you were going to get crap for it Blaine, because you were brave enough to accept yourself and follow your heart. You come to the hospital at least once a week and you spend time with these little kids that might not ever get to go home, Blaine. You go home every night to a father who barely accepts you and a mother who could love her son a little more than she does now. You still go to school and spend time with your friends and sing the lead for the Warblers and _push through._ Because as much as it sucks to be stuck here in Ohio, you have so much ahead of you Blaine. You’re young and healthy and so smart it hurts. You are the kindest and gentlest person I have ever met. You’re going to graduate and you’re going to get out of here and go somewhere where you are allowed to _shine,_ Blaine. And maybe not now, but someday, you’ll find someone who doesn’t care about your gelled hair or your dorky blazer. They’ll love you for being brave and courageous and silly and sweet. Just because you’re in a slightly better place than Kurt right now doesn’t mean you aren’t brave. It also doesn’t mean you can’t be brave _for him._ Even the bravest need courage sometimes, right?”

Blaine just looked at her. She was crying and Blaine’s heart _hurt._ Ever since they became friends, Blaine had never seen Sierra this emotional. Not even the days when she was super sick from the chemotherapy, or when her doctor sat her down and told her after a year of being healthy the cancer came back.

She sniffed and laughed softly. “Don’t look at me like that Anderson. You’re one of the best friends I have ever had. You’re brave enough to stick with a friend who has cancer. Blaine, sometimes the only thing that gets me through the day sometimes is knowing how far you’re going to go. You make me proud every single day. You’re out there, toughing out the storm because you know the clouds are gonna clear up eventually. Blaine, I’m not going to get better. Not indefinitely. You need to live for me. Who knows if I’ll ever get the chance to have a boyfriend and go to University and have a real job and get married and have kids? You’ll have that chance Blaine. You will. And I know you are internally freaking out right now because you barely know Kurt and you have no idea what you’re feeling. You’re scared because you’re realizing that you really like Kurt, even if you just met him. I can see it in your eyes, Blaine. You’ve never been like this. And I’m probably freaking you out right now, but that’s okay. You are going to get back in there and accept the feelings you are having. Don’t you dare thinking of pushing those feelings away. I might not have even spoken to Kurt, but just from Caroline’s account of what’s being gone on today, something’s clicked between you two. You both know what it’s like to feel unaccepted and unloved. You both know what it feels like to be scared and _lonely._ Plus, you both like Vogue.”

Blaine snorted, “How do you figure?”

Sierra looked at him seriously, “Blaine. Vogue. October issue. The jacket hanging near Kurt’s bed is the exact jacket you pined over while we flipped through the magazine together. Jeez Blaine, it’s like you think I don’t know you at all!” She winked.

“So please, please Blaine. You need to go back in there and when he wake up you are going to give him your phone number and you are going to call him as soon as possible and you are going to hang out. And then one day, maybe sooner than later you’ll stop being an idiot and tell him how you actually feel. And you’ll live happily ever after.”

Blaine quirked an eyebrow at her; “How can you be so sure of these things though, See? What if you’re completely wrong?”

“Just stop and think about it Blaine. Just think about how it would feel if you were Kurt right now. I mean, what you’re feeling is written all over your face. You’re smitten with this boy. But, think about Kurt. You’ve experienced very similar things to him, Blaine. You’ve both been bullied for being gay. That one fact connects the two of you immediately. Think about what it was like before you went to Dalton and you didn’t have any friends because they all started to make fun of you. Kurt’s definitely not at a safe place right now and I’m sure has hell he’s felt lonely. I think you saved him today Blaine, really. You _hugged him_ for god sakes—“

“How did you know that!?” Blaine exclaimed.

“Dr. Robinson stopped in for a visit and he may have mentioned interrupting a lovely embrace between two teenage boys.”

Blaine blushed. He thought back to the tears running down Kurt’s flushed cheeks and his eyes turning a more vivid blue than Blaine thought possible. A slight flick of his wrist and suddenly Kurt was hissing in pain and all Blaine could think about was how it was his fault and how he should have been more careful. He thought distantly about his past and it clicked in his mind that 14year old Blaine and 16 year old Kurt weren’t that different. The one thing that Blaine had craved as a vulnerable 14 year old was reassurance and comfort from somebody who loved him, or at least, who understood him. The hug between him and Kurt had strictly been an impulsive move, but Blaine physically felt the tension leaving Kurt’s hunched up shoulders as Blaine embraced him. That was a good thing, right?

Both Blaine and Sierra fell silent and observed Kurt through the window in the door.

“You should get in there Prince Charming, before Sleeping Beauty wakes up.”

“You’re confusing the Princes, See. I think we’ve been watching too much Disney lately,” said Blaine. He would often camp out in his best friend’s room on the weekend, marathon-ing as many Disney movies as they could before one of them fell asleep. Whoever stayed awake the longest was allowed to pick the movie the next time. Unfortunately for Blaine, he usually fell asleep halfway through the first movie. There was always something about a good Disney movie that put Blaine straight to sleep. Blaine didn’t really mind falling asleep too much. He’d already seen the classics a hundred times, so he knew he would be fine to fall asleep and not miss anything.

“ _We_? Excuse me, but who has gotten to pick the movies for the last 10 marathons because _someone_ always manages to fall asleep 2 minutes in!”

“I stay awake longer than 2 minutes,” said Blaine, defiantly. “Maybe if you would pick something new for once I’d actually stay awake!”

“Mhmm, whatever. Maybe you’re nickname should be Sleeping Beauty and Kurt should be Prince Charming…”

Sierra continued to natter on about something or other, but Blaine was distracted from the image of Kurt wearing a suit of armour and riding on a horse, swinging a sword to protect Blaine from a dragon…He was interrupted by a swift smack upside his head.

Sierra gave him a blank look. “I don’t even want to know do I?”

Blaine blushed. She sighed and pushed him towards the door. “Go away before I hit you again.” Blaine laughed quietly as he entered Kurt’s room.

Kurt was still fast asleep, his casted arm lying next to him, palm up and his other arm lying across his abdomen. Blaine noticed Kurt was shivering slightly. As Kurt was currently sleeping on top of all the blankets on his bed, Blaine left the room for a quick second. He knew just the thing to warm Kurt up and make him a little more comfortable. Blaine made his way to the linen room and took a blanket out of the warmer that was always stocked up with freshly laundered blankets for the little ones. What better than a cozy, warm blanket to help Kurt stop shivering? As Blaine entered Kurt’s room again, he spotted Sierra’s Kindle and sharpie lying on the bedside table. Blaine suddenly felt this need to be the first one to draw on Kurt’s cast. He didn’t want to do something silly, but he did want Kurt to notice it.

 _Maybe I’ll just write my name,_ he thought. _Should I put my phone number on there? Would that be weird? What if he got made fun of if someone saw a boy wrote a phone number on his cast…Maybe I should just leave a note with my number and make sure he gets it. Or maybe I can sign my name on the inside of his forearm and that way it’s hidden. What if he got mad though because I didn’t ask. I’ll just put my name and leave a note then._

Blaine uncapped the marker and delicately leaned over Kurt’s sleeping body. This was the only way he could write his name so it wouldn’t be upside down and the writing would be at least slightly legible. He balanced his weight on his left arm and he pressed his right knee onto the mattress so he wouldn’t topple down over Kurt as he was writing. Thankfully Kurt stayed asleep as Blaine wrote his name with a smiley face next to it. Blaine gently got down from his position on the bed, careful not the jostle the sleeping boy. Blaine draped the warm blanket around Kurt, tucking the sides in. Immediately Kurt stopped shivering. Blaine smiled to himself. Instead of sitting down and picking up Sierra’s Kindle to entertain himself and his friend slept, Blaine decided to write him a note instead. Most of the hospital rooms came equipped with pads of papers and pens, so Blaine got to work on writing a note to leave for Kurt.

_Dear Kurt,_

_By the time you are reading this, you’ll be awake from your drug induced slumber. I don’t think Dr. Robinson intended to make you fall asleep, but he said because you hadn’t eaten anything all day, the medication worked a little faster than he had hoped, but it was fine. It was Weekend at Bernie’s-esque when you passed out in my arms and I had to somehow manage to keep you sitting up so the doctor could finish your cast. I hope the black ends up compatible with your outfits. I may have signed my name, so I’m sorry in advance if it bugs you! I wrote it on the inside of your forearm so it wasn’t too noticeable. My best friend Sierra stopped by to see what I was up to. Caroline filled her in on the situation, so she brought me a silver sharpie. She has a vast collection of markers. I think she was a little concerned when I left her room to run a quick errand and two hours later I still hadn’t returned. Maybe one day, if you want to, I could introduce you. I think the two of you would definitely hit it off._

_Anyways, I’m writing you this note because I am not sure if I’ll still be here when you wake up. Hopefully your family will be, though. I never know how long my mom’s surgeries will last, but I’m hoping they’ll take a little longer today so I can say a proper good bye. It’s been really nice meeting you, Kurt. I really hope you would like to get together once you get home and settled. I know it takes a while to get used to an arm cast, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually. I know today has definitely not been the best day for you, but I can tell you that my day was brightened and I hope the same was for you. I know how hard it is to not really have anyone to talk to who is gay. I don’t really have anyone I can really relate to, but I have a feeling we have a lot in common, so I think we could be great friends, yes? Maybe? I’m rambling now. I think I’m going to stop before I make even more of a fool of myself._

_Talk to you soon! –Blaine_

Blaine scribbled his phone number, with the post script, _Here’s my number if you’d like to call, or text me, or whatever._

Blaine folded the note in half and wrote Kurt’s name on the front with a smiley face. He looked over at Kurt and smiled. He really hoped Kurt would like to hang out with him at some point. He was kind of excited to be able to make a new friend, who was also gay. And maybe, if Blaine was really lucky, him and Kurt could become more than friends, if Kurt was comfortable with that. Blaine rested his chin in his hand and started to daydream about all the things he and Kurt could talk about when he was interrupted by the sound of low voices outside the door.

Caroline entered Kurt’s room, with the people Blaine assumed to be Kurt’s family. Kurt’s father looked at him with trepidation and confusion.

“Who are you?” he asked, quietly.

Blaine leaped up from his seat and held out his hand. Kurt’s father shook it with a firm grip.

“Hello, Mr. Hummel. I’m Blaine Anderson. I’m a volunteer here. Caroline asked me to fetch Kurt from the Emergency room and bring him up here. We struck up a conversation and we realized with both recognized each other from Sectionals. He told me that he was going to be by himself until you got here and I didn’t really have the heart to leave him here alone.”

“Burt, kid. You can call me Burt.” He smiled at Blaine and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for staying with him. I’m sure today was rough. He can get pretty emotional with stuff like this. I’m glad he had a friend with him.”

Blaine blushed. Burt looked fondly at his sleeping son, noticing the IV tubes and frowning. He turned towards Caroline, “Why does he have an IV in his arm? I thought he just broke his wrist.”

“Kurt was feeling a little dizzy, so we decided to give him some fluids. He hadn’t eaten anything all day and his blood sugar was low. We also gave him some pain medication for his wrist, that kind of knocked him out,” explained Caroline. “He’s fine though, he’s just been sleeping this whole time.”

“He needed it though,” added Blaine. Kurt’s family all turned towards him, “Um…well, what I meant was that Kurt was pretty upset the whole time I was with him. I tried to distract him but he was just frustrated and tired and in pain. So I think the nap is doing him good,” Blaine explained, embarrassed about his outburst.

Kurt’s step-mom looked over at him sweetly. Caroline cleared her throat, “Mr. Hummel? If I could just steal you away for a few minutes, I need you to sign some forms.” Burt nodded and followed Caroline outside the room.

Blaine felt awkward being alone with Kurt’s step mom and his step brother. They kind of just looked at each other until Blaine decided to set his eyes on Kurt, still unaware of anything going on. Kurt’s step-mom placed a hand on his arm and he turned towards her.

“I’m Carole,” she introduced. “And this is my son, Finn.” Finn nodded at him, slightly smiling, as if to say, “What’s up, dude?”

“Thanks for staying with Kurt, sweetie. I’m sure it meant a lot to him for you to be here with him. I can imagine he would have been pretty scared being by himself. He gave us all quite a fright when he called us after the accident. Have the two of you been friends for a while? He’s never mentioned you.”

“Oh! No, me and Kurt just met today,” explained Blaine.

“Really? It just seemed like you two had been friends before.”

“I think we just have a lot in common. We’re both in Glee club and…”

“Are you gay?” Finn cut in.

Blaine, taken aback, laughed. Carole smacked her son on the arm. “Finn! Be polite.”

“No, it’s okay Mrs. Hummel. I am gay, actually.”

“Oh! And please, call me Carole! I’m sure you and Kurt will get along just fine. I’m glad the both of you met, despite the consequences.  He really does need a friend who can understand him.”

“I need one too,” said Blaine, quietly.

Carole pulled him into her arms for a quick hug. “I hope you come over to visit before school starts up again,” she whispered into his ear.

“I’d really like that,” he replied. “I mean, if Kurt says it’s okay.”

“Oh, honey, don’t worry about him. I’m sure Kurt would love it if you stopped by. Here,” Carole scribbled down their address and Kurt’s cell number, underneath.

“Stop by whenever you’d like, hon. We’d love to have you. I know both me and Burt really appreciate you staying with him. We were panicking for hours, trying to get here for Kurt. If only we’d known you were staying with him, it would have made us feel a lot better!”

Blaine smiled, “Really, Carole, it’s not a problem. I really like Kurt and I hope we can be friends.”

“Friends,” Carole repeated. “Sure.” She winked.

Blaine’s heart started to pound a little faster. _Is it that obvious that I like him already? Maybe I should tone it down a bit._

“You know what Blaine? How about stopping by tomorrow afternoon? I won’t tell Kurt if you don’t! I’m sure it’ll be a great surprise for him.”

“Are you sure he’d be okay with that, Carole? I mean, I don’t really know him _that well_ yet.”

“Sure, sure, it’ll be fine!”

Before Blaine could reply, his mother’s head peeked into the doorway.

“There you are Blaine! I stopped by Sierra’s room and she led me here. Are you ready to go?” Suddenly his mother noticed the other people in the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” She entered, “I’m Dr. Anderson, Blaine’s mother.”

“Are you Kurt’s doctor?” asked Carole.

“I’m afraid not,” she said. “I’m a paediatric surgeon. This is Kurt, though?” She pointed towards the bed.

“Yes,” Carole replied. Blaine’s mother smiled, “He’s out for the count isn’t he?”

“He broke his wrist mom. Dr. Robinson gave him some pain medication that put him to sleep,” Blaine explained. “Caroline asked me to fetch him from the ER and I stayed with him until his family got here from Columbus.”

“We were snowed in at my parent’s place,” added Carole.

“It’s a mess out there, isn’t it? We took Blaine’s jeep because I feared my little car wouldn’t make it out there. He likes to come along with me when I have to go to the hospital on the weekends. Blaine volunteers here a lot, he loves spending time with the kids. I’m actually surprised he isn’t watching Disney or colouring in colouring books right now with the little ones!” Blaine’s mother looked at her son fondly. “I didn’t expect to find him spending time with someone his own age.”

Blaine rolled his eyes, “Mom…”

She laughed, “Alright, ready to go then?”

Blaine sighed, “I suppose. I kind of wanted to say goodbye in person, but I don’t think Kurt’s going to be waking up any time soon. Today really tuckered him out, I think. But, before I forget,” Blaine handed his note to Kurt to Carole.

“Can you give this to Kurt when he wakes up, Carole?”

“Sure, sweetie. Thanks again for being with him. We’ll see you tomorrow?”

Blaine nodded, “Yeah.”

Blaine followed his mother out the door, getting one last look at Kurt before he left. As he was leaving, he waved to Caroline and Burt at the nurse’s station and got onto the elevator.

His mom looked at him with a wide smile and said, “We isn’t he just a gorgeous little thing? Tell me everything, now.”

Blaine smiled just as wide and started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you don’t mind me adding Sierra in this chapter. I hope it wasn’t too confusing when I had Blaine calling her “See”. I figure Blaine would have a nickname for her. As for Blaine’s mom I kind of imagine Dr. O’Hara from Nurse Jackie. I think I even wrote her with a british accent in my mind. Also I am just going to say again that everything I mentioned about the medication Kurt was given, or how I described Blaine being hurt is either highly exaggerated or completely just made up because I have no experience in these matters and I really hope I don’t have to ever have any experience in them (unless I’m on the other side being a nurse.) I also hope Caroline’s southern accent wasn’t too cheesy or anything. I really have no idea about these things. I’m just going to sit here in Canada and pretend I know things and twiddle my thumbs.
> 
> Again, 2013 Katelyn is glad that 2011 Katelyn acknowledged that she doesn't really know about broken bones and how they are treated in hospital. Good news is that 2013 Katelyn is almost a nurse and totally knows these things.


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt

            Kurt was woken from his deep, drug induced sleep from something shaking him slightly. Expecting to wake up seeing the hazel eyes he had seen in his dream, he was surprised to see the soft brown eyes belonging to his step-mother. Kurt blinked a few times, trying to fully wake up.

            “Kurt, honey, it’s time to go,” said Carole, sweetly.

“Carole?”  Kurt yawned and stretched, noting the heaviness of his left arm.

             “Oh, I fell asleep before they finished the cast,” said Kurt, shaking his head.

            “Blaine was the one in charge in keeping you sitting up. It was kind of like _Weekend at Bernie’s_ ,” said Caroline with a laugh. She was at Kurt’s bedside, taking out Kurt’s IV.

            _Blaine…wait. Where is Blaine?_ Kurt looked around the room, looking for the presence of the curly-haired, _gorgeous,_ Warbler.

            Caroline noticed Kurt looking around the room. She bent down closer to Kurt.

            “Blaine had to go home, hon. His mama was done surgery and the two of them came in together,” Caroline explained softly.

            “Oh…” Kurt’s heart sunk. He wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to Blaine, or even a thank you? As much as today had been horrible, it was made exceptionally better by meeting Blaine. Was he ever going to see Blaine again? He didn’t even get to give him his phone number. It felt like he and Kurt could be great friends and if he was lucky, maybe even more than that.

            _I guess I could just add him on facebook,_ thought Kurt sadly. He wasn’t willing to let this friendship with Blaine go to waste, but Facebook? It just seemed so…stalker-ish.

            Carole heard Caroline mention Blaine’s name and suddenly remembered the note that Blaine had handed her to give to Kurt when he woke up.

            “Oh, Kurt, sweetie, Blaine left me a note to give to you before he left,” said Carole. She dug around in her purse for it, handing it to Kurt when she found it in the side pocket.

            “He left me a note?” Kurt could barely contain the smile that slapped itself on his face. Carole nodded at him, smiling. “What does it say?”

            “I don’t know, sweetheart. I didn’t read it. Why don’t you go ahead and open it right now. Finn and your dad went downstairs to fetch the car.”

            “Okay. I was wondering where everyone was!” Before Kurt could open Blaine’s note, Finn’s hulking frame appeared in the doorway.

            “Mom, Burt’s downstairs in the car waiting for us. Did you wake up Kurt? Oh!” Finn noticed Kurt sitting up straight in bed, his hair a little ruffled.

            Finn walked over to his mom and step brother. “You okay man?” he asked Kurt. Kurt noticed the hint of worry in Finn’s eyes.

            “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks Finn.” Kurt smiled at him slightly. At first it had been a rough transition living with Finn, but ever since Burt and Carole had gotten married, Kurt and Finn were getting used to being brothers. They did disagree quite a bit, but ever since they had moved into the new house and stopped sharing a room, the number of disagreements lowered. They spent more time together just doing their homework in the kitchen, or watching movies. Sometimes Finn convinced Kurt to play a couple of round of Halo with him. Kurt would also never stop being appreciative for the newfound safety detail he found in Finn and the rest of the guys in Glee.

            “Ready to go Kurt?” asked Caroline, pushing a wheelchair towards his bedside.

            “Definitely,” Kurt replied. “But, um…Finn, do you think you could help me up? Last time I tried to do this I lost my balance because I couldn’t support myself on my left arm.”

            Finn nodded and immediately wrapped his arm under Kurt’s and helped him stand up. Before Finn helped Kurt sit in the wheelchair, he pulled him in a bear hug. Kurt let out a little “oof” as Finn wrapped his arms tightly around him. Kurt made sure to keep his casted arm out of the way and tentatively wrapped his good arm around his brother.

            _Fifteen year old Kurt would have died had he gotten a hug from Finn Hudson,_ thought Kurt. Although, Kurt did have to admit this hug was indeed comforting, but more as a brotherly hug than anything else.

            Finn disentangled himself from Kurt and coughed. “Uh, sorry bro. I was just really worried about you, you know?”

            Kurt smiled and patted his step brother on the shoulder. “It’s okay Finn, I didn’t mind. It’s too bad you couldn’t protect me from an icy driveway.”

            “Yeah, too bad,” replied Finn. He squeezed Kurt’s shoulders. Suddenly the two boys heard a sniffling sound behind them. They turned towards Carole, who was wiping her eyes and nose with a Kleenex.

            Both boys looked at her alarmed.  “Mom, you okay?” asked Finn.

            “Oh, yes, I’m fine. It’s just so sweet seeing you two like that. My two sons acting like brothers. It’s making me cry!”

Kurt’s heart did a little flip at the word, “sons”. It had been so long since Kurt’s mother passed away and he wasn’t used to a motherly figure in his life. It made him feel nice. He loved Carole, and he figured before long he would see Carole as his new mom.

            Carole helped Kurt put on his coat (the sleeves which thankfully fit over his cast) and his boots and helped him sit in the wheelchair. Kurt held onto his bag on his lap and Finn began to push him out of his room and towards the elevators. Kurt waved at Caroline from the chair and she came bustling over to say goodbye before he left.

            “Bye sweetheart! Be safe and take care of that arm for me, okay? I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, alright?”

Kurt looked at her confused, he wasn’t really aware of when he was supposed to be coming back for a check –up. And now that he thought about it, he really had no idea how to take care of his cast.

            Caroline noticed Kurt’s confused facial expression and quickly filled in that his parents had talked to Dr. Robinson while Kurt was asleep. He wrote down a whole list of instructions for Kurt and his parents about caring for the cast and he already booked a check-up appointment in a couple of weeks with the authorization of his dad. Caroline handed him some lime green sheets of paper with a long list of bullets along the page instructing cast care.

            “Just read the pages and you’ll be fine. Plus, your step-mom is a nurse, so I’m sure you’ll be well cared for.” Caroline smoothed a hand through Kurt’s silky hair before Finn swept Kurt into the newly arrived elevator.

            Finn pushed Kurt into the elevator. On the way down to the main floor, Kurt clutched tightly to the note in his hand (careful of crumpling it). He couldn’t wait to get home and dash to his room, close his door and lose himself in Blaine’s words. As Kurt, Finn and Carole approached the lobby, Kurt could see the well-worn flannel of his dad’s favourite winter coat. Burt was standing outside, leaning against the side of the car. Burt spotted his family through the windows, smiled and waved. Kurt felt an overwhelming sense of comfort as soon as he spotted his dad. As Finn pushed his wheelchair through the sliding doors and outside into the cold, Kurt tapped the toes of his boots on the foot pedals anxiously. He was eager to see his dad and get home.

            “There’s my boy!” exclaimed Burt, as Kurt and Finn approached.

            Kurt smiled widely at his father and waved. He looked up at Finn, “Can you help me up?”

            “Oh, uh, sure Kurt,” replied Finn. Again, he wrapped his arms around Kurt and helped to lift him out of the wheelchair. Kurt walked carefully over to his dad standing by the car and opened his arms wide for a hug. Burt quickly enveloped him in one of his famous bear hugs. Kurt inhaled the faint scent of motor oil and gasoline and the fabric softener Carole liked to use, the distinctive smell of his dad. Burt pressed a kiss into Kurt’s hair and Kurt hugged him tighter. It had been a while since he’d hugged his dad and he never really realized how much he missed being this close to him.

            “I’m so glad you’re okay, kiddo,” said Burt.

            “I’m glad you’re here, daddy.” Kurt flushed at the slip of his childhood name for his father. Kurt pulled away from the hug and his dad held him at arm’s length, inspecting Kurt for any signs of injury or distress. Burt let out an audible sigh of relieve, evidently pleased that his son was alright except for the cast on his arm.

            “I wouldn’t have thought you would pick black, Kurt,” said Burt, nodding towards his left arm.

            “Black accessorizes easily, Dad. I really had no other option. All the other colours made me want to puke.

As Kurt moved his arm, Burt noticed a flash of silver on the inside of Kurt’s forearm and made out the name _Blaine_ in a boyish scrawl.

            “Looks like Blaine already signed your cast for you.”

Kurt wrinkled his nose at his Dad. “What? No he didn’t!” Kurt skimmed his eyes over the front of the cast, when his eye caught the same flash of silver that his dad noticed.

 _Blaine_ was written in blocky print, with a smiley face. Kurt’s smile instantly grew bigger. He definitely didn’t expect Blaine to sign his cast. It was a nice surprise. Kurt traced over the blocky letters softly with his fingertips and remembered the note he had clutched in his hand.

            “Okay, let’s go home now,” he suggested. The note in his palm was itching to be read.

            Burt clapped him on the shoulder and agreed. The Hudson-Hummels climbed into the car and started slowly home, the snowy landscape lulling Kurt back to sleep.

**********

            After a slow drive home, Kurt was finally home. He ached to get upstairs to his bedroom, put on his pajamas, perform his moisturizing routine and crawl under his duvet to read Blaine’s note. Unfortunately his plans were interrupted by the fact that he embarrassingly struggled to remove his jacket and boots and required the help of his dad.  And also the fact that he was absolutely starving. Carole whipped up a fast meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Normally Kurt wouldn’t settle for so many carbohydrates in one sitting, but he was quite hungry and the meal was comforting. Kurt excused himself from the table when he was finished and went upstairs to his bedroom. He was dying to change out of his skinny jeans and wash the hospital germs off his face.

            Kurt walked upstairs to his bedroom and went straight to his closet to fetch his coziest silk pajamas. As Kurt went to undress, he realized he was going to have a lot of difficulty trying to take his clothes off without using one wrist. He knew he still had the use of his fingers on his left hand, but his joints were stiff from barely using them all day and the cast impeded a lot of the movement he would use to undress. Huffing in frustration, Kurt managed to pull his simple gray cotton V-neck over his elbows, but his cast caught on the sleeve and his head and arms ended up in an uncomfortable cotton straight jacket of sorts. He was stuck.

            “STUPID, STUPID CAST. Why did this have to happen to me?” Kurt growled in frustration. He tried to wiggle himself out of the shirt but somehow ended up knocking something heavy to the ground that alerted Carole and Burt to his predicament. Through the cotton of the shirt, Kurt heard a muffled knock and calling of his name.

            “Can someone please come in and help me, I’m stuck!” Kurt shouted, trying to be clearly heard.

            Outside his door, Burt and Carole looked at each other, silently agreeing that Burt would precariously enter his son’s room to see what was going on. Burt opened to the door to see his son with his shirt caught over his arms and head, struggling to get out. Burt heard Carole laugh silently under her breath and Burt tried to keep a straight face as he went to help his son.

            “Stop wiggling for a second, I got you,” said Burt.

            “Dad, oh thank god. I was kind of worried I was going to suffocate there for a second,” said Kurt as Burt disentangled him from his shirt. Kurt flushed when he realized he was standing in front of his dad, shirtless and tried to cover up his chest.

            Burt shook his head in amusement. “Kurt. I’m your father. I changed your diapers and gave you a hundred baths when you were a little kid. Seriously.”

            “Sorry,” Kurt mumbled. “I guess I’m just self-conscious.”

            “Well, you have no need to bed,” said Burt, pointedly. “Now, do you need any more help?” Burt glanced at the skin-tight jeans his son was wearing. He figured there was no way in hell he’d be able to get those off on his own with his arm in a cast.

            Kurt sighed, resignedly. He knew it was better to ask for help than to end up embarrassingly caught up in his clothing and asking for help. It was embarrassing to be getting undressed in front of his dad, of all people. But he supposed it was better than someone like Finn.

            Burt took a step closer to Kurt, motioning to the buckle on Kurt’s belt and he gasped loudly and took a step away from his dad.

            “No way. I’ll do it,” said Kurt, defiantly. No way in hell was his dad getting near his crotch.

            Burt sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Kurt, buddy, you have to let me help. I’m your dad. It’s not that big a deal.”

            “Just let me try and do it, okay Dad?” Burt nodded.

With one hand, Kurt managed to undo his belt buckle and the button and fly on his jeans. Tugging his insanely tight jeans with one hand would be a struggle in itself. Instead of taking an obscene about of time trying to slide his jeans down his legs, Kurt relented and allowed his dad to help him.

            Quickly and embarrassingly in Kurt’s case, Kurt was dressed in his pajamas, his dad’s clumsy fingers doing the buttons up on his shirt.

            “Kurt, I know these next couple of weeks are going to be pretty difficult for you with that cast on your arm. Everything you do right now will be ten times harder than it would be normally. I broke my arm once and I could barely shower properly or get dressed. I didn’t even have a lotion and potion routines like you do twice a day and I thought it was difficult. Not to mention I’d be caught dead before I wore a pair of jeans like those.”

            Kurt sighed. He hadn’t quite come to terms yet with how he was going to deal with having his cast on.

“I know you won’t be the most comfortable with having someone help you out all the time, especially with dressing and stuff. I’m not saying you cut everything out because it’ll make your life easier, but maybe you’ll consider accepting that you’ll need a little more help? Or maybe stop wearing such complicated clothes for a little while.”

            “Dad, if you are insinuating that I switch to wearing drawstring pants, you can go ahead and plan my funeral because I’ll be caught dead before you ever see me in something like that,” said Kurt.

Kurt thought about his dad’s suggestion. Kurt was unwilling to adapt his wardrobe. He knew there were a few different options he could use, but either way, unless he did wear sweatpants, there still was going to be issues with the button/fly combo on all of his pants. If he thought about it, his moisturizing routine would take a lot longer than it normally would because he wouldn’t be able to use his wrist.

            _This is going to be such a pain in the ass,_ he thought. _I guess I’d better just let someone help me or everything I appreciate in life is going down the drain._

Kurt let out a loud sigh. “I guess I’ll have to let you guys help me. Are you sure that’s okay though dad? I mean, I can even admit to myself I’m kind of high maintenance.”

            Burt laughed. “I promise its fine Kurt.” Kurt looked a little wary of the whole situation. He had a flush high on his cheekbones. He was embarrassed that he had to ask help for basically everything from now until he got his cast off.

            “Okay, tell you what. I’ll come in and help you get dressed in the morning and at night and Carole can help you with your hair and skin stuff. She’s better at that stuff than I am, anyways. Plus, I think you guys could get to know each other a little more.”

Kurt nodded, visibly looking more relaxed at his dad’s suggestion. Burt clapped him on the shoulder and left the room, promising to send Carole up.

Kurt sat down at his vanity and waited for Carole to come up. He was kind of excited to share his tips and tricks for skin care with Carole. While he had already helped with her hair and clothes, her skin was still something that needed a little work if she wanted to keep a young, fresh look about her.

For what felt for the hundredth time since Carole handed it to him, Kurt’s thoughts drifted to Blaine and the note he personally wrote for Kurt. Kurt kind of wished Carole would hurry up so he could get in bed and read it.

As soon as he thought that, he heard a knock on his door, and Carole entered his room.

“Hi, Sweetie. Your dad sent me up to help.” Kurt looked at her sheepishly. “Oh, don’t give me that look Kurt, it’s fine. Plus I’m sure you’ll be willing to share some tips?” Kurt’s eyes brightened with her eagerness. He didn’t even need to suggest the plan to her! Kurt shifted down the bench he was sitting on to allow room for his step-mom.

“Before I forget, I brought the bottle of pills your doctor prescribed for you for the pain. How’s your wrist feeling right now?”

“Fine, I don’t think the other stuff has worn off yet.”

“Okay, well, just take one before you go to bed. These are powerful, so make sure you only take one every 6 hours. Now, let’s get started, shall well? Teach me your ways, Mr. Hummel.”

 As Kurt walked through the steps of his routine, he and Carole chit-chatted about Blaine as they both applied the products to their faces with each other’s help.

“So what did Blaine have to say, Kurt?”

Kurt flushed, “I haven’t had a chance to look at yet, unfortunately.”

“You really like him, don’t you?”

“Carole, don’t be silly,” huffed Kurt. “We’ve just met.”

“I don’t see how time is a factor here, Kurt. I’ve was talking with Blaine before you woke up and it looks like the two of you have some things in common. I think you both will get along very well. He’s cute, too. And quite the gentleman.”

“Yeah…” said Kurt, dreamily.

“Nothing’s wrong with having a crush, honey. If anything I can see the two of you becoming great friends.”

“Can I be honest with you Carole? I’m kind of scared, but excited at the same time.”

“And why’s that?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a boy who’s been so nice to me without any obligation to do so. I mean, he stayed with me the whole time I was there. He didn’t have to, but he did. He hugged me, Carole. He told me to look into his eyes when I was scared about getting the IV put in. What does that even mean?”

“I think it means he liked you right from the start, honey,” said Carole, honestly.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend before, what if I mess everything up? What if he was just being nice and I’ve misinterpreted everything and I mess it up?”

“Kurt, give yourself a little credit here. I’m sure Blaine likes you just as much as you like him. You won’t mess it up. I’m glad he came into your life at the right time, honey. It’ll be nice for the both of you to have each other to lean on. I know McKinley isn’t the most accepting of gay people…”

“More like not at all,” grumbled Kurt.

Carole gave him a sympathetic look. “Just give it time, hang out, call each other, whatever. Things will fall into place eventually. Just don’t try to force it. I’ll let you be now though. Let you get to that note, finally.” She winked at him.

“Thanks for everything Carole, really.” She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and squeezed his shoulder. “No problem, honey. Same time tomorrow night?”

“Ah, well...I actually do my moisturizing routine twice a day.”

“So tomorrow morning then? Even better.” Carole left, shutting Kurt’s door behind her. He couldn’t exactly put a name to the warm feeling in his chest, but he knew he felt a lot better about the situation with Blaine.

Before he went under the covers, Kurt took his medication like Carole said, put his iPhone next to him on his bedside table and turned on his lamp. He grabbed the note off his vanity and sunk under the covers, propping himself up on his pillows to read Blaine’s note. Kurt opened it and began to read through it carefully, as to not miss anything. By the end, Kurt was sporting an ear-reaching grin. _Blaine wanted to hang out with him. Blaine wanted him to call or text him or whatever. Blaine wants to be friends with Kurt._ Kurt almost burst out laughing from the euphoria of it all. Kurt snatched his iPhone off his bedside table and before he could type out a text message to the number written at the bottom of the page, it chimed with a new message from the same number.

**Text: _Hi Kurt! It’s Blaine. I hope it’s okay that I’m texting you. Your step-mom gave me your number before I left._**

**Text:** I was just about to text you! Thank you for the note! I’d love to hang out some time:)

**Text from Blaine: _Awesome! How is your arm by the way?_**

**Text:** It’s doing alright, thanks. The dr. prescribed me some pills, so I’m not in any pain. Thankfully my phone has a touch screen or I’d be doomed.

**Text from Blaine: _Is it okay if I call you? I’d rather carry on a real conversation. Texting is so restrictive!_**

Kurt’s heart started to pound. Blaine wanted to call him? Although he spent most of the day with him today, Kurt was pretty nervous, but excited at the same time.

 **Text:** Sure! :)

            Before long, the opening notes of _Defying Gravity_ started to play from Kurt’s phone, indicating the incoming phone call from Blaine. Kurt swiped his index finger across the screen and accepted the call.

            “Hi Blaine!”

            “Hi, Kurt! Thanks for letting me call. I know it’s kind of late. But I really didn’t want to continue our conversation via text.”

            “It’s alright Blaine, it is kind of difficult to type with one hand, even with my touch screen. I’m glad you wrote me that note, Blaine. I was kind of sad to see you had left when I woke up.”

            Blaine groaned, “I know. I’m so sorry Kurt, I wanted to stay. But my mom was done her surgery and your family had just arrived anyways.”

            “Carole told me you stayed for the several hours I was unconscious. That was nice of you. Sorry I wasn’t better company!”

Blaine laughed, “That’s alright. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t wake up alone, which you didn’t.”

            “I’m sure I would have been fine, Blaine. You didn’t have to sit there for hours. Although I did see you entertained yourself by signing your name on my cast…”

            “Was that okay? I was trying to make it look inconspicuous! My best friend popped by with a sharpie. I guess Caroline told her the whole story of what was going on. I was actually visiting with her when Caroline sent me down to get you, and I kind of disappeared for several hours. I believe her exact words were, _Did you get locked in the morgue or something?”_

“Your friend is in the hospital? I’m sorry, Blaine. Is she okay?”

            “I don’t know. She has cancer. She’s been on and off remission for as long as I’ve known her. We actually met at the hospital. Remember when I mentioned when I was a patient at the hospital before?”

“Yeah,” replied Kurt. He heard Blaine take a deep breath on the other end of the line.

“Well, what happened was that I dared to ask I boy I like, who was also gay, to the Sadie Hawkins dance at my old school when I was 14. These jocks cornered us after the dance, when we were waiting for his dad to pick us up and the beat the living crap out of us. We were both in the hospital for a while with serious injuries.”

“Oh my god, Blaine…” said Kurt, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I am Kurt, I’m fine. It was a couple of years ago. I’m all healed up now. Plus, I transferred to Dalton, so no one can hurt me again. Dalton has an anti-bullying policy. Did you know that?”

“Does it really?” asked Kurt, with trepidation in his voice.

“Yes, it does. And it actually works. It’s not just there for show. Everyone is truly respectful of one another there. It’s great.”

“Wow…,” said Kurt. Kurt would have never thought such a thing would exist, especially in Ohio.

“Maybe you should talk to your dad about it, Kurt.”

“I can’t, Blaine. He doesn’t even know about half the stuff that’s gone on at McKinley. I’m too scared to tell him. I don’t want to get him all worried and stressed out. He’s sick, you know. He just had a heart attack a couple of months ago and I just don’t want to trigger anything…”

“I understand. But can you promise me something?”

“Sure, Blaine.”

“Promise me that you’ll at least talk to someone about it, whether it’s me, or your step-mom or your friends at school. Don’t keep everything bottled up Kurt, it’s not healthy. You know I’ll always be here to talk to. No matter what. I just want you to be okay.”

Tears sparked up in Kurt’s eyes. Blaine had yet again shocked him into tears with his kindness and generosity.

“I promise. But now can we change the subject?”

Over the course of a couple of hours, Kurt and Blaine talked about everything from Glee Club, to Vogue, to Broadway, to how embarrassing it was for Kurt to have his dad help dress him and how scared he was to try showering tomorrow. Blaine talked about the struggles he’s faced with his father and how his mother is never really around, but she tries to compensate for it by popping into Blaine’s life at unexpected times. Kurt talked about his mother’s death and his dad’s heart attack. He even briefly brushed over his crush on Finn and his struggles with trying to accept his new family. Eventually Kurt became so exhausted from his stressful day that he drifted off in the middle of the conversation with Blaine. As soon as Blaine noticed that Kurt fell asleep, he ended the call and wrote him a quick text.

******************

Kurt stirred at the clinking noise of dishes being put away downstairs in the kitchen. He stretched his arms out over his head and winced at the pain present in his wrist.

 _Oh right, that happened,_ he thought. Kurt had actually slept fairly well last night despite the cast on his arms. He wasn’t entirely hopeful of sleeping that well for the rest of the time he has his cast on. The emotional day he had yesterday had tuckered him out, not to mention he was sure that the remaining effects of the medication he was given at the hospital helped him fall asleep as well. Kurt turned his upper body towards his right side, stretching his shoulders, when he noticed his iPhone sitting next to his head on his pillow. He wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. Suddenly, Kurt remembered the events of last night and his phone call with Blaine.

“BLAINE,” he gasped loudly. “Shit, shit, shit. I must have fallen asleep when we were talking. Oh my god, what must he think of me now? Crap!”

Kurt sat up, after struggle for a minute and grabbed his phone. As he clicked the home button, a message from Blaine popped up on the screen, timed at 1:12am this morning.

**Text from Blaine: _Hey, sleepy head. Don’t worry about falling asleep. I know you had a long day. It was nice talking to you tonight. I’ll talk to you soon!_**

_Oh, okay,_ thought Kurt, heart racing. He struggled to keep the bubble of euphoric laughter in his chest. _Last night was really nice. I don’t think I’ve ever talked on the phone that long with somebody before._ Kurt was surprised at his good mood so early on in the day. Normally he wasn’t such a morning person. Well, if he really thought about it, it took a lot for him to be in an especially good mood like he was this morning.

 _When was the last time I ever felt like this?_ Kurt ran through different scenarios in his head, not being able to point out anything in particular that inspired this kind of feeling. Except for maybe when _Wicked_ came to Columbus and his Aunt bought him tickets for his birthday. They got a hotel room and stayed for the whole weekend and went shopping at all the really good malls after catching the show.

            After freaking out about the events of last night for a couple minutes, Kurt took a deep breath, smiled and decided to go downstairs for breakfast. He could smell Carole’s famous homemade waffles and coffee brewing wafting from the kitchen. With a little difficulty, Kurt climbed out of bed and went downstairs. His dad and Carole were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee out of well-worn mugs and reading different sections of the newspaper.

            “Morning Dad, Carole.”

            “Morning bud, sleep well?” asked his Dad.

            “Surprisingly yes,” said Kurt as he walked towards the coffee maker and grabbing a mug from the shelf above him.

            “You must have been pretty tired last night; it’s not like you to sleep so late.”

Kurt looked over at the digital clock on the microwave, which read 9:22am. He usually slept in until about 8am at the latest, so he was surprised he woke up so late.

            “Well, I was up late last night. Blaine called and we ended up talking for a couple of hours,” said Kurt, nonchalantly.

Burt and Carole gave each other knowing looks across the table.

            “What?”

            “Nothing, bud. You really like this Blaine kid, don’t you?”

Kurt blushed. “M-maybe?” Kurt stammered, embarrassed. Burt smirked at his son’s reaction.

            “Why don’t you sit down and have some breakfast, Kurt? I made lots. The eating machine hasn’t woken up yet, so I think you’re safe to enjoy a couple of waffles,” said Carole.

            Carole got up to fix him a plate and he sat down with his mug of coffee, searching for the fashion and entertainment section of the paper. As Carole sat down his plate in front of him, he thanked her profusely.

            “I’m pretty sure it would have taken ten times longer to fix that plate myself. Thanks Carole.”

            Kurt dug in to his breakfast, thankful that he didn’t break the wrist of his most dominant hand and browsed through the newspaper. Once he was finished, he went to stand up from his chair when he noticed that Burt and Carole were looking at him seriously.

            “What’s the matter?” asked Kurt confusedly.

            “Listen Kurt, me and Carole have been talking all morning about figuring out how to help you, uh…get ready in the morning and stuff.”

            “Okay…?” He really wasn’t sure at what his parents were getting at. Burt and Carole just looked at Kurt’s cast and then realization set in.

            “Oh…Oh!” Kurt felt the colour drain out of his face when he realized what his dad meant. “You mean like, helping me shower and stuff.”

            “Stop looking like I took your tiara collection away from you again, Kurt. Me and Carole are both willing to help you.”

            “Yeah, well…I’m not really sure if I’m willing to let you help me.”

            “Don’t be silly Kurt, there really isn’t any other way. Otherwise you’ll be taking half an hour long showers and I don’t think we could afford the increase in the water bill,” added Carole.

            “But…I’ll be naked.”

            “Just like the day you were born, and every single time I had to change your diapers,” said Burt.

            “I know but…”

            “Well, what if Carole helped you instead of me? Would that be less weird?” asked Burt.

            “I bathe patients at work all the time Kurt, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” added Carole.

            “Dude, it’s really not that big of a deal,” said Finn sleepily, as he walked into the kitchen. “When I dislocated my shoulder playing football, mom had to help me shower too. Plus, it’s not like you need her to help you completely, just with washing your hair and stuff. She gives good scalp massages like they do at the hairdresser.” Carole smiled at her son and pressed a kiss to his cheek as he sat down next to her with a plate piled with waffles.

            It was hard for Kurt to just sit back and accept the fact that he now needed to rely on other people to help him complete menial tasks, tasks in which he would occasionally be naked. He sighed and reluctantly agreed to let Carole help him. Kurt liked that the fact that she was a nurse made the whole situation a little better. Finn’s encouragement also put him at ease. If Finn could suffer through it and survived, then so could Kurt.

            “You’re sure this is okay with you Carole?”

            “Yes, Kurt. I promise. Stop asking me please, honey. It’s fine.” Kurt looked at her reluctantly, while she gave him a reassuring smile.

            _Might as well get this over with,_ he thought, as he gathered up his towels and heading into his ensuite bathroom.

            Carole followed him into the bathroom, taking something out of a plastic package.

            “What is that?”

            “It’s a rubber cast cover. I picked it up from the hospital before we left. It’s pretty handy compared to using a plastic bag over the cast. Unfortunately, you won’t have any use of your fingers on your left hand. But that’s why I’m here,” said Carole.

            Kurt nodded and turned the water on in the shower. “Can you help with my buttons, Carole? I can probably get my pants off on my own, but I need help with these,” said Kurt, pointing to his pajama shirt.

            Carole worked quickly to un-do all the buttons. After she slid the shirt off Kurt’s shoulders, she tugged the rubber cover over Kurt’s cast and made sure it was sealed properly.

            “Um…could you turn around please?” asked Kurt, flushing bright red. There was no way in hell he’d let his step-mom see him completely naked. No freaking way.

            Carole laughed and turned around while Kurt pulled his pants and underwear down with one hand. It took a little longer than usual, but Kurt found it wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be. Carole was humming the tune of one of the random Mellencamp tunes his father tended to blast during his road trips behind him as he turned and stepped carefully into the tub. The intense water pressure of the special shower head he begged his dad to install in his new bathroom instantly soothed his tense muscles and relieved some of his stress and anxiety. He heard Carole pull his desk chair into the bathroom and set it near the tub.

Over the next twenty minutes, Kurt and Carole worked as a team to make Kurt’s showering as less awkward as possible. They passed back and forth a loofah and Kurt’s favourite warm vanilla sugar body wash. She encouraged him to sit near the edge of the tub (promising not to peek) and gave Kurt the best shampoo and conditioner massage he’s ever had in his life. After he dried himself off and covered himself in a robe, the pair seated themselves at Kurt’s vanity and performed their now shared moisturizing routine. Carole helped pick out a comfortable outfit for a relaxing day at home (That wouldn’t leave him struggling for a lot of help if he needed to use the bathroom or something, he was embarrassed just thinking of certain situations): a simple, white cotton V-neck, the cardigan Carole knit for him for Christmas made with the softest, warmest gray wool Kurt has ever felt and black lacquered wooden toggles and knit loops inlaid instead of buttons (that surprisingly fit over his cast), a blue ombre scarf wrapped around his neck and his coziest black yoga pants. He decided against styling his hair properly today, not willing to go through the unrelenting frustration that was soon to come as he attempted to style his hair one handed once school started again.

After Kurt thanked Carole with a warm hug for helping him, Kurt settled on his bed with his iPhone and issue of Vogue UK that was stuffed in his stocking. Kurt flipped through the pages, marking whatever sparked his interest with little blue post-its, scribbling notes on them as he went. While he did try to focus slowly on his magazine, Kurt’s concentration kept drifting over to his iPhone, willing a text from Blaine to pop up.

It was New Year’s Eve and while no official plans had been made, Kurt usually went over to Mercedes’ house to watch the cheesy Dick Clark pre-show before the ball dropped in Time’s Square. Finn had left after breakfast to go to Puck’s for a sleepover. Kurt wasn’t in the mood to get all dressed up and he wasn’t feeling quite like himself at the moment. Not to mention the distant throbbing in is wrist refused to go away, even after taking another pain pill. Kurt was feeling a little lonely and was yearning for the chance to have another easy conversation with Blaine.

 _Maybe I should just call him,_ he thought. Kurt fought with himself mentally for a good 15 minutes before he finally just decided to call his new friend instead of agonizing over the appropriate times to communicate with a new friend. _Hummels wait for no one,_ he decided as he tapped the “call” icon.

With every ring, Kurt got increasingly nervous. _Maybe he has plans with his friends today,_ he thought, gloomily. Eventually Kurt hit Blaine’s voicemail, his silly message putting a little smile on Kurt’s face. He sighed and went back to his magazine, feeling a little sorry for himself. To perk himself up a little he placed his iPod on his docking system and cranked the volume on his _Wicked_ soundtrack, desperate to make what seemed like the beginnings of a miserable day, not so miserable.

Later on, as Kurt was singing along loudly to _Popular_ and still flipping through Vogue, the distant sound of knocking came from downstairs. Kurt paused quickly to figure out if they had a guest. He couldn’t hear any extra voices, so he continued to sing along from one of his favourite songs from the musical when someone knocked on his bedroom door.

“Come in!” he called out.

When the door opened, Kurt looked up to find Blaine dressed in what looked like a cashmere Kelly Green sweater and dark wash jeans. His curls were a little wild from the wind and his cheeks were pink.

“Hi, Kurt!” he greeted excited.

He wasn’t exaggerating when he said he almost fell off the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No additional notes this time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Blaine

            “I’m not sure about this,” confided Blaine. He was sitting at his kitchen table across from his mother, clutching a cup of tea in his hands.

            On their way home from the hospital, Blaine told his mother all about his day with Kurt and his conversation with Sierra. He was surprised when his mother encouraged him to share more about his day and convinced him to sit with her and continue the conversation.

            “No, Blaine. I think you’re plenty sure. You’re nervous,” she said pointedly.

            “Maybe I should just wait to go over,” said Blaine. “Until I get to know him better.”

            “And how would you get to know Kurt without actual face to face interaction, hmm?”

            Blaine mother raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look.

            “Um…” Blaine faltered. He was being kind of silly about this. Of course he’d love to meet up with Kurt instead of just talking on the phone. He just didn’t want to seem too eager and make a bad impression.

            “I just don’t want to make him think I’m too clingy or anything,” he said, worriedly.

            His mother laughed from across the table. “Honey, I’m sure Kurt would love to see you. He’s not going to think you’re clingy. Kurt was practically unconscious the whole time you were with him today, it’s not like you were having a scintillating conversation for hours. I’m sure he’s dying to get to know you more just as much as you want to get to know him. Friends want to be together Blaine; it’s not that big of a deal.”

            “I don’t want to just be his friend, mom…” said Blaine softly.

            “I knew that from the second I walked into his hospital room, sweets. But these things take time. You’ve never had a boyfriend, and while I can’t say anything for Kurt, I’m sure Lima has just offered him plenty of opportunities to get a boyfriend,” she said sarcastically. “Take it slow, if anything, you want to be his friend right?”

            “More than anything,” said Blaine wistfully. She smiled at him fondly across the table.

            “From what you’ve told me, it seems like you need each other. You’ve told me yourself how you’ve wished to have a friend who could completely understand you. Kurt can be this person for you Blaine; you just need to have a little courage.”

            Blaine looked down into his mug of tea thoughtfully. His mom was right. It would be nice to spend time with a person who he could easily relate too, someone who knew exactly what he had gone through at one point in his life. He just wasn’t sure what to do…

            “Call him tonight Blaine, I’m sure he’s looking forward to hearing from you,” his mom said, seemingly sensing his uncertainty from his body language.

            Blaine nodded and sighed. His mother’s encouragement gave him a boost of confidence. He was a little nervous, but he figured he had nothing to lose. He walked into his bedroom and picked up his Blackberry off of his bedside table and started a new text message to Kurt. His heart started to pound as soon as he hit the send button. Before long, his phone dinged indicating a new message. Before long he was texting back and forth with Kurt, feeling more relaxed about the situation. After a while, the texting conversation was starting to irritate him. Blaine _sucked_ with words. He’d rather sing, or at least speak. So he asked Kurt if it was okay to call him and he said yes.

            So he called Kurt and they talked for _hours_ about _everything._ Blaine would have never thought he would have _so much in common_ with another person. Both boys talked about things that had hurt them, Kurt talked about his mother and how she died when he was 8, how scared he was to come out to his dad and how relieved he was when his father said he knew since he was 3 years old and loved him just the same. Blaine’s heart ached for Kurt, for the loss of his mother, for the bullying he had to endure every single day. But there was a little twinge of jealousy hidden in the back of his mind. He had only wished his father could accept him just as Burt accepted his son. Blaine couldn’t even imagine what he would do if he had lost his mother. She was the sole family member who accepted Blaine’s sexuality and love for music, theatre and books. While she wasn’t around as much as Blaine would have like and wasn’t terribly involved in his life unless something of importance was happening, Blaine still loved her. Blaine talked about how much he loved being at Dalton and singing in the Warblers. He even told Kurt about the fear in the back of his mind that he was going to lose Sierra one day.

            Over the 2 hour conversation, Blaine moved from the chair at his desk, to the padded seat right under his window, to walking aimlessly around his room and then finally crawling under his duvet on his bed and settling onto the pillows as the conversation continued. The conversation had progressed to the songs that they both wished to sing in Glee club.

            “I was thinking something from Maroon 5. I don’t know how the council will feel about it. I was thinking something simple like _Sunday Morning_ , but Wes would probably eat me alive. The Warblers are used to more upbeat songs for Sectional/Regional performances, but maybe for one of our Nursing Home or Hospital performances. What do you think, Kurt?”

            Blaine paused to wait for Kurt’s response and heard nothing.

            “Kurt?” If Blaine listened carefully, he could hear slow, deep breathing on the other side of the line. Blaine smiled to himself. Kurt must have fallen asleep.

            “Night Kurt, sweet dreams,” he carefully whispered into the phone. _For good luck, or something,_ he thought. After he hung up, he sent Kurt a quick text, having a feeling that Kurt would be upset that he fell asleep when he was talking to Blaine. He didn’t blame him from falling asleep, though. Kurt had had a long day and they had talked on the phone until one in the morning. Blaine placed his phone next to him on the bedside table and snuggled deeper under the covers. He fell asleep quickly, remembering Kurt’s melodic voice in his ear.

***************

           

The next morning, Blaine is woken up from his mother entering his room and opening up the shades to let the sunshine in. She placed something on the bedside table next to Blaine’s head and plopped down on the bed next to him.

            “Morning, Goose.”

            Blaine grumbled from his position lying on his stomach, head buried between the crease of the two pillows he kept on his bed.

            “Why are you waking me up?” he mumbled, still between the pillows.

            “It’s 11 o’clock, love,” she replied, smoothing her hand through her son’s curls.

            Blaine yawned and turned over. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, trying to wake up a little.

            “Is it really?” he said, his voice still rough with sleep.

            “’Fraid so, Goose. I brought you coffee. Figured you were either up late, you didn’t sleep or you slept really well. Either way, I brought you coffee.”

            “Thanks mom,” said Blaine. He kissed her cheek and sat up straight, leaning up against his headboard and grabbing the mug of coffee off his bedside table.

            “So which is it?”

            Blaine blushed instantly as he remembered the conversation he had with Kurt, long into the night.

            “I might have been talking to Kurt on the phone until 1am.”

            His mother snuggled close to him and gave him a face splitting grin.

            “Oh really now? And what did you talk about?”

            “Everything.”

            “That’s lovely dear. Are you feeling a little better about the whole situation now that you’ve talked with him?”

            Blaine realized he wasn’t feeling as weirded out about the whole thing now that he’s shared so much with Kurt. It might have only been a conversation over the phone (a long one at that) but he felt more at ease now about their relationship. He knew they were friends now. You wouldn’t share as much as they both had last night without being friends.

            “A lot better,” he replied.

            “Good. Now what time are you planning to go over to his house this afternoon?”

            “Maybe 1 or 2 o’clock. I’m not sure.”

            “Alright, well, whenever you come home, don’t expect us to be here. We were invited to the Johnson’s annual New Year’s Eve Gala in Westerville. Dad’s planning to get us a hotel for the night, so we won’t be home until tomorrow.”

            “Oh, okay,” said Blaine, trying not to sound disappointed.

            “You didn’t make any plans for tonight, Blaine?” his mother asked him.

            “No, um…a lot of my friends have gone on vacation or are with family for the holidays so no one made any sort of plans.

            “I’m sorry, love. I’d hate to know you’d be all on your lonesome on New Year’s Eve. I would have invited you along had I known.”

            “Thanks Mom, but galas aren’t really my thing.”

            She laughed. “I knew it, although you do play the dapper son part very well.”

            “I try,” said Blaine, smiling.

            “Well,” said his mother as she got up from the bed, “Maybe you’ll be lucky and Kurt will include you in his New Year’s plans.”

            “Mom, stop putting ideas in my head!”

            “Sorry, love!” she said, laughing as she slipped out the door.

            Blaine couldn’t help but think…maybe.

*****************

An hour later, Blaine bounced down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mother was reading the newspaper.

            “What do you think?” he asks, twirling in a circle to show off his outfit choice.

            His mother observes her son’s outfit for a minute and says, “Understated, but refined, approachable and cozy, but sexy in a dapper kind of way, well done.”

            Blaine looks at her confusedly, “Um, alright? Sure. Thanks mom. I was just looking for, _looks good,_ but whatever you said is good too,” he said with a laugh. Blaine settled on his navy Burberry cashmere sweater (his mother had picked it up for him last time she was visiting his grandparents in London) with black trousers and a gray wraparound scarf around his neck. He took Kurt’s advice and used about a dime sized amount of gel that he ran through his curls to avoid complete afro frizz. He also shaved to get rid of any stubble he had on his face.

                  Blaine walked over to cupboards next to the fridge and took out his favourite box of cereal. After pouring himself a bowl and adding milk, he plopped down next to his mom and started to eat.

            He was planning to leave for Kurt’s house soon. He hadn’t yet texted him today and was a little worried about showing up unannounced. Even though Carole knew he was coming and had probably told Burt of his upcoming visit, he felt as if Kurt would feel uncomfortable with Blaine being in his house, or even his bedroom, without really knowing each other.

            “Will you stop worrying? You’ll have frown lines by 25, I swear,” said his mother, jokingly. Blaine kept eating his cereal, lost in thought.

            “I’m just—“

            “Blaine, love, if you say nervous or worried one more time, I will drive you to Kurt’s myself.”

            “Is that your way of saying, suck it up?” he asked.

            “Precisely,” his mother replied.

            Blaine pushed his chair back, got up and put his cereal bowl in the dishwasher.

            “I guess I’d better go then, I’d rather not be embarrassed by my mother driving me to my friend’s house.”

            “Haha, very funny Mr. Anderson. Like I could ever embarrass you!” she said, seriously, with a smile on her face. “One more thing before you leave though.” She took Blaine’s hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom. She went into his bathroom and grabbed a plaid-patterned bottle of cologne off the counter. She took off the cap and spritzed it a couple of times into the air and instructed Blaine to walk through it several times.

            “Now you’ll smell nice. Kurt will find you irresistible!”

            “Sure mom, whatever you say,” replied Blaine, laughing. “Have you ever considered that you have an obsession with Burberry?”

            “I’ve come to accept it, Goose. Nothing I can do about it. Just don’t show dad my credit card bills and all will be well,” she said with a wink.

            Blaine mimed zipping his lips and went to his closet. He pulled on his black peacoat and put on the black leather driving gloves his grandfather had sent for Christmas. He tucked his Blackberry and iPod in his coat pockets and grabbed the DVDs he has set out the night before in preparation for going over to Kurt’s house. He tucked them into his all-purpose leather bag and set off towards his car.

            “Bye Mom,” he said, kissing her cheek as he swept out the door. “Have fun at the gala!”

            “Oh, I surely will,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Have fun at Kurt’s, Goose. Give us a call with any change of plans, alright? I expect a phone call when you get home, as well.”

            “Sure,” he said, nodding. And then he was off.

*****************

            Blaine’s fingers were tapping restlessly on the steering wheel. He was thrumming with nervous energy and willing the drive to go by faster. He mentally thanked his parents for living in Lima instead of Westerville, where he went to school. Blaine didn’t mind living in the Dalton dormitories and visiting his parents during the weekends and holidays, but if Blaine had to drive 2 hours to get to Kurt’s house instead of 20 minutes, he surely would have keeled over and died from the anxiety already.

            After a lot of aimless humming to the songs on the radio and triple checking the address that Carole had written on a slip of paper, Blaine made it to Kurt’s house. He parked in the driveway behind what he assumed to be Kurt’s Navigator. He chuckled underneath his breath. Never in a million years would he pair slight, delicate Kurt with a big, black SUV. He grabbed his bag from the backseat of his jeep and closed the door. He took a deep breath, willing his heart to slow to a normal beat and walked to the door. He knocked on the door 3 times before the door whipped open. Carole stood behind the door, smiling widely and pressing a finger to her lips.

            “Hi, Blaine,” she whispered. “Kurt is holed up in his room blasting Broadway. He probably didn’t hear you knock, but keep your voice down.” Carole ushered him into the foyer and wrapped him up in a hug. “I’m so glad you could come, Blaine. Kurt’s not feeling particularly happy at the moment. He doesn’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve and I think he’s kind of lonely. Also, I think he’s kind of mourning the loss of his extensive wardrobe. Skinny jeans do not pair well with casts. Nor do designer tops.”

            “Ah,” said Blaine, knowingly.

            “Well, I’ll bring you up to Kurt’s bedroom. I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic to see you.” After Blaine hung his coat and bag on the hooks close to the front door, Carole led him up the stairs to Kurt’s bedroom.

            Through the thick wooden door, Blaine could hear the distant notes of “Popular” playing and what he assumed to be Kurt’s voice singing along to the esteemed Kristin Chenowith. Carole knocked on the door 3 times and practically leapt down the stairs, deserting Blaine. He heard her soft laughter as she went down into the family room.

            “Come in!” called Kurt from inside the room.

            Blaine swallowed loudly, his heart pounding. His brain was telling him to run, but instead, he gripped the doorknob and opened the door.

            Kurt was lying on his stomach on the bed, his legs crossed at the ankle. He was flipping through a magazine and hadn’t even looked up to see who was at the door. Blaine swore his palms felt damper than usual. Kurt’s soft brown hair was swept across his forehead instead of swept up in the style he was wearing yesterday. He was wearing what looked like the comfiest gray knit sweater and a lovely blue scarf was wrapped around his neck, not too different from his own. _Did he deliberately pick that scarf out to match his eyes? Is he trying to make everyone fall hopelessly in love with him, or what?_

“Yes?” Kurt asked, nonchalantly. He casually looked upwards at the door to see who was standing there. Suddenly his eyes went incredibly wide, his lips forming a tiny “O”.

            “Hi Kurt!” Blaine called out.

            Kurt was so surprised he practically fell off the bed.

            Blaine gasped and hurried into the room. “Are you okay?”

            Kurt stood up and hurriedly brushed off non-existent lint off his outfit. “I’m fine!” he called out, breathlessly. “Hi Blaine, I didn’t expect to see you here,” said Kurt with a voice higher than usual. He had a blush high on his cheeks and his lips were upturned into the biggest smile Blaine had ever seen ( _he swore_ ). His un-styled hair was flopping into his eyes a little and he flicked it away with a practiced wrist.

            “W-well, um,” Blaine stuttered, anxiously. “Carole invited me over yesterday before I left to go home with my mom. She wanted it to be a surprise. I’m really sorry if I’m overstepping, it’s just she said it was okay and that you wouldn’t mind and we talked for so long last night and I’m really sorry I didn’t call you back this morning, I was in the shower, see and I knew I was going to come over and I really wanted to see you anyway and…”Blaine paused and took a deep breath. His rambling always got the best of him.

            “It’s okay,” said Kurt, assuredly. “I thought you might have been busy with your friends, seeing as its New Year’s Eve and all.” Kurt’s smile faded a little. Blaine picked up on it immediately and stepped closer to Kurt.

            “Don’t worry,” he says, “All my friends are with family or on vacation to faraway places. My parents are going to a Gala tonight. I didn’t have any plans. And if I did, I think I would have been thinking about you all night, wishing you were there.”

            “Really?” said Kurt, raising an eyebrow.

            “Honest,” Blaine replied, nodding.

            “Well, thanks for coming. It means a lot to me,” mumbled Kurt, looking down at his feet. Blaine just looked at him from where he was standing. Kurt looked restless and fidgety. He went to clasp his hands together until he realized he couldn’t.

            “Hey,” said Blaine softly, moving even closer to Kurt. Kurt raised his head, looking at Blaine from his gloriously long lashes. His eyes were a little bloodshot and rimmed red. If Blaine paid even close together he swore they looked a little wet. “What’s the matter?”

            Kurt sniffed and let out a watery laugh. “It’s nothing Blaine. It’s just that this whole thing has been incredibly rough. And that’s saying something, as I’ve been harassed by Neanderthals every single school day. My dad had to help me undress and put on my pajamas last night; my step-mom practically saw me naked this morning because she had to help me shower. I can’t wear most of my normal wardrobe because suddenly my skinny jeans have become my own personal hell and I don’t even want to try to attempt to style my hair for school because I fear it I’ll make it look worse than it is right now. My closest friend didn’t bother to invite me over for New Year’s because she knew I was injured and my step-brother is gone to his idiot friend’s house and it’s really just been one of those days. Everything I normally cling to, my clothes, my appearance, even my driving has all been taken away from me. The only light I’ve been able to see at the end of this miserable black hole is the fact that I have a chance to be friends with someone I’d never thought I’d ever meet. And you completely surprised me and I swear meeting you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me for a long time, even though we only met yesterday.” Quite like Blaine, Kurt paused and took a breath after rambling out his emotions.

            Blaine said nothing and Kurt stood still. Casually wiping tears from underneath his eyes and sniffling still. He had no idea how to respond to what Kurt had just told him. The last two sentences of Kurt’s little monologue shocked Blaine straight to the core. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Elation? Happiness? Relief? Or all these things combined into one, tinged with sadness and the need to comfort his friend. To tell him everything was going to be okay. To tell him he wasn’t going anywhere and how he’d felt exactly the same thing.

            Blaine said nothing, but instead opened his arms wide. Kurt looked at him, slightly confused.

            “Come here,” he said quietly. And suddenly Kurt rushed into his arms so fast that he almost knocked Blaine over. Kurt squeezed his arms as tight as he could around Blaine’s midsection. Blaine wrapped his arms around his friend, burying his face into the softness of the cotton scarf around Kurt’s neck. The boys held each other for a while, not saying a word. It’s like they were trying to translate the flurry of complicated emotions whirring through their minds through physical contact, through soft breaths against each other’s necks, arms gripped tight and Blaine occasionally rubbing Kurt’s back to soothe his shaking frame.

            Eventually, the boys separated, looking sheepishly at each other. In that one moment, Blaine _so badly_ wanted to tell Kurt how he felt. Yet, the reality of the past two days kept him grounded. He knew he should actually be friends with Kurt first before trying anything.

            “Thanks,” said Kurt quietly, looking down at the ground.

            “Anytime,” said Blaine, stepping forward and bring Kurt into his side for a quick hug. “I promise.”

            “I’ll keep you to that, Blaine Anderson.” Kurt said, jokingly. “Don’t get mad if I need to call you in the middle of the night!”

            “Well, that’s what friends are for, aren’t they? To be there for you; even in the middle of the night.”

            “I guess so, yeah,” said Kurt, nodding.

            “Well that’s settled then. How about we watch a movie? I brought a bunch of the classics with me just in case,” said Blaine excitedly.

            “And what makes you think I don’t own the classics myself?” Kurt said, winking.

            “Okay, then I’ll go get my DVDs downstairs, and we’ll compare. Deal?”

            “Deal.”

            Blaine rushed down and back up the stairs in a matter of seconds and in a matter of minutes, Blaine’s and Kurt’s collection of classic musicals and movies were spread around them on the bed. They bantered back and forth between which movie to watch, until Kurt _finally_ relented to watch _Singing in the Rain_ with him, seeing as he had only seen the movie once when he was younger. Kurt set up the DVD on his TV and him and Blaine settled back onto the pillows stacked against the headboard to watch the movie.

            As the day went on, Blaine and Kurt worked through most of the handful of movies that Blaine had brought along, most of them being shared favourites between the two of them. Blaine shared a wonderfully lunch with Kurt’s family, talking to Burt about football and his business and asking Carole about her job. Blaine would have thought Kurt’s family would have a little intimidating, but he felt as comfortable, if not more, than he did with his own parents. As evening approached, Kurt and Blaine decided to take a rest from watching movies, instead picking up their conversation from last night. They talked more about their underlying emotional issues, feeling comfortable enough with each other to confide deep hidden thoughts and events.

            Near 11pm, hours after Blaine shared another, more traditional meal with the Hummels ( _We always order Chinese on New Year’s, Blaine. It’s been a tradition since I was old enough to understand what New Year’s Eve was.)_ Blaine’s phone went off with a  soft “ping”, hidden in the depths of his bag. He and Kurt were lazily flipping through Kurt’s _Vogue_ collection, talking about fashion. Blaine slowly got up from his position on Kurt’s bed and picked up his bag on the floor. He figured it was his mom texting him, wondering what he was up to.

            **Text from Mom** : _Taking a pause from this mind-numbing conversation. What are you up to_?

            **Text:** I’m still at Kurt’s house. We’ve had a wonderful time together.

            **Text from Mom** : _That’s wonderful darling, you’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow:) xo_

 **Text:** Will do, have fun at the Gala;)

            **Text from Mom** : _You’re just lucky I didn’t drag you along. Text me later, your father has found me and has brought me champagne._

            Blaine laughs at his mom’s last text and puts his phone back in his bag.

            “My mom,” he explains to Kurt, who is looking up at him curiously. “My parents were invited to a fancy gala and my mom absolutely hates going to these kinds of things. But she goes along because she had to keep up with the _image,_ ” says Blaine, accentuating the last word with finger quotes.

            Blaine sits back down on the bed next to Kurt. Kurt shuffles around and sits up, crossing his legs and facing Blaine. “I just don’t get it, you know Kurt? She goes along with all this stuff my dad does and never says a word about it. Being around your parents today has really made me realized how _weird_ the relationship is between my parents. It’s like they don’t even love each other. I never see them doing anything affectionate, whether it’s holding hands or kissing or hugging even. My dad never does anything nice for her, except for buying her expensive gifts. If I really think about it, I never really see them together. But it might be because I’m always away at school, it’s just weird. I told you about my dad, right? How he rebuilt a car with me last summer in an attempt to make me straight? My mom was always the one who supported me, no matter what. She encouraged me to accept myself and my sexuality. She encouraged me to participate in the arts and she was the one who convinced my dad to send me to Dalton after the attack. I just don’t understand how you can be with someone if they don’t understand things the same way you do.”

            Blaine paused and sat silently. He really hadn’t known where this little outburst had come from. Well, in all honesty, he questioned this more often than he thought. Kurt sat across from him; brows furrowed slightly, elbows rested on his knees.

            “Blaine, how long have your parents’ been together?”

            Blaine thought for a moment, trying to remember the number on the card from their last anniversary. “Twenty years I think, maybe a little less.”

            “That’s a long time,” said Kurt, thoughtfully.

            Blaine nodded, “Yeah, I guess so.”

            “Have you ever thought that maybe your parents acted a lot differently when they were younger, before they even had you? I mean, when did you start to notice this kind of behaviour between the two of them?”

            Blaine thought back to his younger childhood years, before he had even an inkling of his sexuality. They had been a cozy, happy family once. His mom didn’t work as much back then and his dad was always home by five o’clock on weeknights. Weekends were spent playing catch and building forts and helping his mom cook. As he got older, his parents started to work more. And when he came out…well…

            “I think it was when I came out. Around then. Maybe before.” Kurt looked at him sadly.

“Maybe it was because they didn’t have the exact same views about homosexuality,” Blaine realized.

“Maybe,” agreed Kurt. “How would you describe your relationship with your dad?”

“Non-existent,” said Blaine quickly. It was the first thing that came to his mind.

“Really?” said Kurt, looking a little shocked. He looked like he found it hard to believe that there was such a thing. “Why?”

“Well, first of all, I never see him. Ever. I’m either away at Dalton, or he’s out of town on a business trip. If by some rare chance we are both home at the same time, we talk about school or how my car is running. He never asks me anything personal. We usually spend time in our own rooms. You know, I can’t even remember the last time he hugged me? Or even just showed any affection towards me at all.” Blaine looked down, suddenly. He was getting more emotional than he thought he would.

He felt Kurt shuffle closer to him and pressed a soft hand over the fists he held over his lap.

“I’m really sorry Blaine. No one deserves that kind of treatment from their father.”

“Thanks, Kurt. I know the situation could be a lot worse, at least he never kicked me out of the house or anything.” Kurt just tilted his head sadly.

“I hate that,” Kurt mumbled under his breath. “I hate that people have to go through anything like that, that they all can’t have a dad like my own.”

Blaine sighed, “I know.”

Kurt squeezed Blaine’s hand and stood up from the bed. “How about we change the subject and distract ourselves with Dick Clark’s cheesy pre-show in Times Square.”

Blaine agreed excitedly. “I love watching the Ball drop! I hope I get to see in person one day!”

“The feeling is mutual,” said Kurt. “Trust me. I’ve been dying to go to Times Square for New Year’s Eve ever since I started watching it! Now, let’s go downstairs. I’m sure my dad and Carole are watching it in the living room.”

Kurt led Blaine down the stairs into the cozy living room. There was a fire burning in the fireplace and Burt and Carole were sitting on the couch in front of the TV.

“Hi Dad, Carole,” Kurt called out. “Mind if we join you?”

“Of course not! Burt, shove over and give the boys some room.” Kurt and Blaine settled on the couch next to Carole. The couch was pretty big, but four people was a tight fit. Blaine didn’t mind much. His arm was pressed closed to Kurt’s, the warmth distracting him completely from the show on the screen. As the time came closer to midnight, the excitement thrumming from the television was translating through the screen.

Blaine and Kurt were quietly discussing the co-host choice of clothing, when Burt checked his watch and cleared his throat. He got up from the couch with a grunt and went into the kitchen. The countdown at the corner of the screen showed less than five minutes until midnight.

“Where’s he going?” asked Blaine. “The ball is going to drop soon!”

“Oh, you’ll see. It’s another part of the Hummel’s New Year tradition,” said Kurt, cheekily.

Blaine chuckled and playfully cuffed Kurt’s shoulder. Blaine could hear the chinking of glass coming from the kitchen. With a little less than 2 minutes left on the countdown, Burt re-entered the living room holding a bottle and four champagne flutes.

“Champagne?” said Blaine, eyebrows raised.

“Sparkling cider,” Kurt stated. “There’s no alcohol in this house.”

“Trust me Blaine, it’s not without trying. I’m dying for a beer. But these two here won’t let me touch a drop of alcohol,” said Burt, nodding towards Kurt and Carole.

Blaine looked up at him questioningly, confused.

“The heart attack,” explained Kurt. Kurt had talked about his dad’s heart attack last night on the phone. The light in Kurt’s eyes dimmed a little as he remembered the difficult time in his life. Blaine squeezed his shoulder lightly, smiling at him.

“I think you’re doing a good thing, Kurt,” whispered Blaine into Kurt’s ear, encouraging him. Kurt smiled wide at him in thanks.

Suddenly, a count down from ten was shouting from the TV. “It’s almost time!” exclaimed Kurt. Kurt grasped for Blaine’s hand, Carole gripped onto Kurt’s bicep and Burt held hands with Carole.

“Five, four, three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!” The sound of confetti blasting from the TV filled the room. Everyone on the screen was hugging and laughing and kissing. Burt had brought Carole into his arms and kissed her. Blaine and Kurt were standing awkwardly next to them, looking at each other. Blaine really wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in this situation. Obviously he can’t kiss Kurt. That would be totally uncalled for.

Kurt moved closer to him and tentatively wrapped his arms around Blaine’s shoulders and pressed his lips lightly to Blaine’s cheek.

“Happy New Year, Blaine,” said Kurt, a little breathlessly into Blaine’s ear.

            Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt’s waist, reciprocating the hug. Before Kurt pulled away, he leaned in quickly and pressed his lips to Kurt’s cheek, as well.

            “Happy New Year, Kurt.”

They both blushed as they pulled away, Blaine laughed lightly under his breath. Burt and Carole were looking at them both amusedly.

Burt popped the cork on the bottle of sparkling cider and poured four glasses and passed one to the each of them.

“A toast!” Burt announced. He held up his glass and the others followed. “Here’s to a brand new year, filled with love, happiness and continued good health. Cheers!”

“Cheers!” everyone called out as they clinked glasses. They all took a sip of their drink as they toasted the New Year.

Blaine looked over at Kurt and smiled. It was going to be a good year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is unfortunately the last! But there's more fics in this 'verse! Yay!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny time jump of about a month here :)

Kurt, February, 2011

            Kurt paced nervously back and forth in the foyer, waiting impatiently. His appointment was at 12:30pm and while his ride was normally quite punctual, he was 3 minutes late. Kurt was this close to whipping out his cell phone and dialing, when he heard the tell-tale honk of his ride’s arrival. Kurt whipped open the front door and then locked it behind him. He stomped towards the car, trying to give the driver his most impressive bitch face. It was difficult, seeing as the driver was his very best friend and had the most adorable smile on his face, eager like a puppy.

            Kurt opened the driver’s side door and climbed into the jeep. “You’re late.”

            Blaine’s smile faltered for a millisecond as he checked the clock on the dashboard. Once he realized that the time was not what he would qualify him as _late,_ his face broke out into a smirk.

            “Three minutes hardly qualifies as _late_ , Kurt. Stop giving me that look.”

            Kurt’s bitch face turned into a small smile and he laughed. “It’s late when this 12:30 appointment is going to be the best appointment of my young life, I’m sure.” It was 6 weeks to the day that Kurt had broken his wrist. It was also 6 weeks to the day that Kurt had met Blaine. What Kurt had thought was going to be some of the most horrible weeks of his life, turned out to be his best. Kurt was getting his cast off today. He was going to get to wear his skinny jeans again without having an awkward encounter with his father. He was going to style his hair properly again, while even though he thought he perfected the one-handed styling, it just wasn’t the same. He was also going to get to shower in completely privacy something he didn’t appreciate as much as he did now.

            “Thanks for bringing me today, Blaine. I really appreciate it.”

            Blaine took his eyes off the road quickly to give Kurt a reassuring look. “It’s no problem, Kurt. It’s not your fault that Burt’s important conference and Carole’s sister’s wedding happened on the same weekend. You were okay this morning, though?”

            “Yeah, I was fine. I showered last night and I made sure to get up extra early before everyone left so Carole could help me get dressed.”

            “Before you know it, you’ll be able to do all those things on your own again!” said Blaine, excitedly, looking over at him.

            “I know! It’s so close I can almost taste it.” Kurt sat back in his seat and picked up the non-fat mocha Blaine had picked up for him at The Lima Bean. “Thank you for the coffee, by the way.”

            “I figured you probably didn’t get too much sleep last night.”

            “Well, you figured right. I was too excited to sleep! I should have gotten my dad to book an earlier appointment…”

            “Well, you survived, it’s just a matter of time now,” said Blaine. He reached over and squeezed Kurt’s leg quickly. Kurt looked out the window to try and hide the bright smile and slight blush on his cheeks.

            Ever since Blaine had gone over to Kurt’s house on New Year’s Eve, the two had been inseparable. For the rest of the Christmas break, they were together most of the time. Blaine lived so close to Kurt, so it was easy for them to take trips to The Lima Bean, or the mall. They had marathon discussions from anything to fashion, to Broadway, to future plans. Kurt was inherently upset when Blaine had to go back to Westerville for school, but Blaine _promised_ he would come home on the weekends as much as he could. Westerville wasn’t that far away and Kurt swore once he could drive again he would drive to Westerville once in a while so Blaine wouldn’t waste so much money on gas. ( _Even though Blaine had told him it wasn’t a waste, Kurt, I want to spend time with you_ ).

            Unfortunately, Kurt still had a massive crush on Blaine. He absolutely tried his hardest to focus on their friendship, instead of his ever persistent romantic feelings towards him, but it was so difficult. He had even had a little mini breakdown when he had a girl’s night with Mercedes and Rachel. They convinced him to wait it out, that if Blaine felt anything other than friendship towards him he would come to terms with it eventually. So Kurt tried to settle down and instead he revelled in his newfound friendship. _His new best friend._ Although he would never be sure if Blaine would ever want to be _more_ , he was thankful for Blaine. These past 6 weeks would have been awful had it not been for him. He was always willing to talk, no matter what time of day or night. He even drove all the way to McKinley and skipped a class because Kurt was have a horrible day. Blaine spent the weekend and they laughed all day long and cooked and even cuddled on the couch a little. Blaine was forced to sleep on the couch, but once or twice Burt found them leaning against each other, asleep, with the light from the DVD menu flashing on their faces.

            “So Blaine, what should we do to celebrate? Shopping? Lunch at Breadstix?”

            “Actually, Kurt, if you don’t mind, I had a little something planned to celebrate,” said Blaine.

            “Oh, really now? Plan on letting me in on your super secret plans, or no?”

            “Hmmm…the latter,” said Blaine, winking at him.

            “Fine,” said Kurt with a huff. “That means I’m in charge of the radio, if you’re going to be like that.”

            “Kurt, if you’re trying to prove a point, I don’t think it’s going to work. We like the same kind of music.”

            “Shut up, Blaine.”

            After several minutes of playful banter, finally, _finally_ they had arrived at Lima Memorial. Kurt urged Blaine to park closest to the building, ( _I promise I’ll give you some money okay, let’s just go!)_ and they rushed into the building. Blaine nodded in greeting at the security guard sitting at the front desk and took Kurt’s good hand and led him to the outpatient registration.

            After filling out the required forms, Kurt and Blaine headed up to the Paediatric floor.  Of course Caroline, everyone’s favourite nurse, greeted them at the desk. As soon as she saw the two of them, she rushed around the desk and practically tackled the boys.

            “I haven’t seen you both since Kurt’s mid-way check-up! Where have you been? How are you? How are things?” she exclaimed.

            “Caroline, breathe,” said Blaine, teasingly. “When I wasn’t at school, I was hanging out with Kurt or performing with the Warblers. I’m sorry I haven’t been by much. I’ve just been busy….ever since Sierra went home, I really haven’t thought of coming much,” said Blaine, sadly.

Kurt could tell Blaine felt guilty for not visiting as frequently as he used to. A few weeks after they had met, Sierra started feeling a lot better and had gone back home to Columbus and getting her chemotherapy done at the outpatient clinic. Seeing as one of Blaine’s best friends wasn’t at the hospital anymore, he didn’t have much of a reason to spend his weekends off volunteering. He instead spent more time with Kurt.

“Don’t worry Caroline,” Kurt cut in, “I’ll make sure when Blaine comes to visit me on the weekends that we’ll stop by.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” said Caroline. “We miss him around here!” Blaine smiled softly and looked down at his shoes.

“I miss you guys too,” said Blaine. “I’ve just been a little preoccupied, I guess.” Blaine looked up at Kurt and winked. Kurt pretended to ignore the intense flush that creeped up on his cheeks and the flutter of his heartbeat when Blaine had said that, fully intending he had been preoccupied with spending time with Kurt.

“Yeah, of course,” said Caroline. She looked at Blaine and Kurt knowingly with a little smirk on her face. Kurt blushed again.  “Now, let’s go. Dr. Robinson is waiting for you Kurt! Excited?”

“Caroline, the emotions I am feeling right now can’t even be put into words,” said Kurt.

Caroline led Kurt and Blaine down one of the halls on the floor into a room that looked more like it belonged in a clinic or Doctor’s office than a hospital. Dr. Robinson was tending to something at one of the medical trays and facing away from them. Caroline knocked quickly on the opened door to notify them of their arrival and Dr. Robinson whirled around to face them.

“Ah! Mr. Hummel, ready to get this pesky cast off?” the doctor asked. “And I see you brought Blaine along for moral support I suppose?”

“Um…” Kurt laughed nervously. “My parents are out of town and Blaine offered to bring me.”

The doctor smiled and nodded at them. “That’s nice. Now, let’s get started. I took a look at the X-rays you got done a couple of days ago and I am very pleased to say that the breaks have healed completely.”

Kurt let out a sigh of relief. “Perfect.”

“Now, I don’t know if you remember me mentioning it to you before, but you will need to do some physical therapy to gain some strength back into your wrist. It’ll be a little stiff when I take the cast off, but I’ll show you a couple of stretches to help loosen your wrist a little bit before you see the physical therapist, alright?”

“Sure,” said Kurt, nodding. “Is there anything I won’t be able to do?”

“The one thing I’m going to advise against is any heavy lifting. No over extension of the wrist, not until your muscles get stronger, okay?”

“But I can wear my skinny jeans again? And perform my moisturizing routine? And shower alone?”

The doctor laughed, “Yes, sir. I assure you that that will all be fine.”

“Good, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Alright, well, let’s get started. Just hop up on the table there and remove your jacket.” Once Kurt had followed the doctor’s instructions, he continued to speak. “Now, this is a fairly simple procedure Kurt. First, I’ll ask you to put on these safety glasses to protect your eyes from any dust that might fly out. I’ll also ask you to wear these earmuffs because the saw is quite loud. Now, this is the saw I’ll be using to cut the cast. It oscillates from side to side, so there is hardly a risk for it to cut your skin, alright Kurt? Do you understand?”

As the doctor held up the cast saw, Kurt blanched. Just the fact that a _saw_ was going to be _this close_ to touching his skin terrified him.

“Kurt,” the doctor said seriously, “it will not cut you, I promise, alright?” Kurt blinked and nodded.

“Okay, I trust you. But please know that I will sue you for everything you have if you do.”

The doctor just laughed.

“Okay, now, once I cut the cast, I’ll break it apart using this instrument here. Once I take off the cast, I’ll cut the padding with these scissors. Once I take a look at the skin and see that everything is alright, I’ll wash it with a light soap, because honestly? This part of your arm hasn’t been washed in 6 weeks. It gets kind of gross under there after a while.”

Kurt and Blaine both made a disgusted face at the mention of Kurt’s arm not being washed for 6 weeks.

“Don’t worry Dr. Robinson, I prepared for this. I brought some of my best soaps and moisturizers. Hopefully I can get my skin back to its normal perfection soon,” said Kurt, determined.

“Alright. Well now, should we get started?” Kurt nodded. Dr. Robinson handed out a pair of safety glasses and ear muffs to both Kurt and Blaine and put some on himself as well. He gestured to Kurt, asking him to place his arm outstretched on the table in front of him. He picked up the saw and looked up at Kurt to make sure he was ready.

“Ready?” he mouthed.

Kurt nodded his head, although he blanched again at the thought of the saw. His good hand started to shake nervously and he was becoming increasingly pale. Blaine noticed immediately and gripped Kurt’s good hand with his own.

“It’ll be fine,” he mouthed assuredly at Kurt. Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He flinched a little at the distant sound of the saw whirring and focussed on his hand in Blaine’s.

_Well this is terribly familiar,_ thought Kurt, scathingly.

Sooner than he thought, he felt the slight pressure and vibration of the saw cutting through the cast. He closed his eyes tighter and Blaine squeezed his hand harder. Suddenly, the sound and the vibrations were gone. Blaine tapped his shoulder and he opened his eyes to see Blaine smiling widely at him.

“All done,” he mouthed. Kurt sighed in relief once again. Blaine leaned towards him and plucked the earmuffs off his head.

“Now, was that so bad, Kurt?” asked the doctor.

“No, I guess not,” said Kurt with a huff. He was kind of embarrassed for acting like a baby about the whole situation.

“Don’t worry Kurt,” said Blaine, soothingly. “I would have been scared too.”

Kurt looked over at his friend and smiled, “Thanks for making me feel like I’m not such a baby after all.”

Blaine gasped in fake horror, “Nonsense!” Kurt chuckled.

“Two more steps left and you’ll have your arm back to normal, Kurt!” said the doctor. Kurt wiggled his toes excitedly.

“Almost there Blaine! Oh my gosh I can’t even believe it.”

“I know, Kurt! I’m so excited for you,” he said as he placed his arm around Kurt’s shoulder and squeezed.

The doctor picked up the cast spreaders and inserted the instrument in the cut running through the cast. With a strong squeeze, the cast popped open and he grabbed it before it fell to the ground.

A rush of air hit Kurt’s sensitive skin and he almost forgot to hold his arm up without all the extra weight holding it down. The doctor snipped through the gauze covering Kurt’s arm and all of a sudden, _he was free._

“Blaine, please pinch me to make sure I’m not dreaming, alright?” said Kurt, a little breathlessly.

Blaine laughed and squeezed his shoulder a little tighter. “Kurt, I assure you, you aren’t dreaming.”

“Wow.” Kurt’s arm was finally exposed from the cast it had been wearing for the last 6 weeks. His skin was as pale as normal and yeah, it looked a little gross. Otherwise, it looked normal and the doctor deemed it perfectly fine.

“Try flexing your wrist a little for me,” the doctor instructed. “Wiggle your fingers, move your hand around and tell me if it’s more painful than a stiff muscle.”

Kurt delicately wiggled his fingers and twisted his wrist slightly. He squinted a little at the tightness, but there was no pain. “It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. It just feels like it was in a funny position while I was sleeping or something.”

“Perfectly normal,” said the doctor. “Keep moving your wrist around, but nothing too extreme. I just want you to loosen the muscles. Your wrist will feel weak for a while, but once you start physical therapy, everything should be back to normal. Now, I’ll leave you here for a few minutes. Go ahead and wash your arm up. Just make sure the water isn’t too hot. Your skin is probably more sensitive than normal. I’d also recommend using something with an SPF in it, just because the area hasn’t had any sun exposure in a long time. I don’t want you to burn.”

“Noted,” said Kurt, nodding excitedly. He was still moving his wrist around in wonder. After having it not functioning for almost 2 months, he was absolutely ecstatic.

“Come on Blaine,” said Kurt, hopping off the table. “Let’s go wash this filth off my arm.”

            Blaine laughed and followed him, picking up Kurt’s bag on the floor as Kurt flounced to the bathroom.

            “What stuff do you want to use?” asked Blaine as he opened Kurt’s bag. Before Kurt had left the house, he had packed several of his most special body washes and moisturizers to take care of his newly exposed skin.

            “Let me get it Blaine, I can do these kinds of things again!” Kurt gently grabbed his bag out of Blaine’s hands, being careful of his weak wrist. He picked through the bottles, taking out two of them, along with a soft towel from his bathroom. He set his supplies on the ledge of the sink and turned the tap on with his left hand.

            “Blaine, look! I just turned the tap on with my left hand! This is insane!”

            “I know man, it’s awesome,” said Blaine, encouragingly.

            Kurt worked quickly to wash and moisturize his left arm. Every time he opened a bottle or turned the tap off created a burst of happiness in his chest that was hard to describe. He was just _so happy_ that this whole ordeal was finally over. He could start dressing as he normally would and styling his hair properly. He could finally drive again! And make his bed nicely. And shower! And do up his jeans on his own! And wear fitted shirts with buttons.

            Life was good.

            Kurt had stayed at the hospital for about another half an hour or so. He listened carefully to his doctor’s instructions and met quickly with the physiotherapist. After he had filled out all of the required forms, Kurt was allowed the leave the hospital, cast free, but not before saying goodbye to Caroline and again promising to stop by with Blaine every once in a while to visit. Eventually, they made their way out to the car. Kurt was still buzzing a little with the excitement of buttoning his jacket with two hands (although he was quite practiced at doing it one-handed). Blaine laughed as Kurt practically dragged him to the car. Kurt had hid a bottle of hairspray and a boar bristle brush in his bag. _I can finally style my hair properly again!_ He climbed into the passenger seat and flipped down the visor overhead and exposed the mirror.

            “It’s small, but it’ll do,” he said to Blaine, peering at his own reflection in the tiny mirror.

            “Sorry Kurt, I’m afraid my Jeep doesn’t come equipped with a vanity.”

            “Have you thought about putting one in the trunk? You have some space back there,” he said, teasingly.

            “Kurt, I’m not the one with a Navigator. You’d have ten times more space in your own car.”

            “While this may be true, I’d be driving. I wouldn’t be able to check my hair while I was driving, Blaine. This arrangement works perfectly fine.”

            “Does this mean I’m your chauffeur from now on…? I don’t think I like this arrangement much.” Blaine looked over at Kurt, his eyes twinkling.

            Kurt looked over at him sceptically, “You’ll do for now. Although I do prefer my drivers a little taller. I do like for them to be able to reach the foot pedals properly.”

            “Oh, shut up Kurt! I’m not that much shorter than you!” exclaimed, punching Kurt lightly in the arm. “Can we leave now?”

            “I suppose. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me where we are going?”

            “Absolutely not.”

            Kurt angled his body towards the window of the car, smiling softly at the snowmen littering the yards on the way to Blaine’s secret destination. Not only was this a beautiful day in Kurt’s mind, the weather has decided to go along with Kurt’s good fortune. Not a cloud was in sight and it had snowed a couple of days ago, leaving everything covered in a light white powder of snow. The sun was shining bright, a rare occurrence during the drab Ohio winter. Kurt laughed a little at himself. It wasn’t very often that Kurt Hummel appreciated the beauty of the world around him, especially since it liked to kick him when he was down most of the time. But maybe, _just maybe_ the appearance of a certain Warbler had shown him that the world was a little brighter than Kurt thought it was, even in Lima, Ohio.

            Kurt didn’t think I was possible, but Blaine _lifted his spirits._ He reminded him of what was good in life. Kurt hadn’t watched Disney in years until Blaine came along. They had silly sing-alongs  when no one was home and watched marathons of _Friends_ and _America’s Next Top Model,_ they brainstormed song ideas for their respective Glee clubs and made list and lists of prospective solos. Their conversations ranged from the most serious to the most silly. Blaine was there whenever Kurt was in an absolute rage over whatever hurtful thing was written over his locker that day or when Kurt was sobbing because his dad was _this close_ to throwing away his mother’s old dresser that still smelled like her, even though his dad couldn’t smell anything.

            Everything had changed for Kurt once he broke his wrist, and honestly he couldn’t be more thankful of it.

****************

            While the drive wasn’t entirely long, Kurt had zoned out a little, enjoying the peaceful quietness of the drive over. He spent the car ride just simply appreciating the fact that he was here, in this moment. That he had a friend so willing to make him happy and who Kurt could make happy in return. He hummed quietly along to the music playing lowly on the car radio, Blaine occasionally tapping his hands against the steering wheel, or singing along softly. He kept his lips shut for the whole drive. Kurt thought Blaine must have been so excited that by even opening his mouth to speak would spoil the surprise.

            Blaine finally pulled over the car at a deserted playground. The playground looked fairly new; the play structures stood out in bright primary colours and were only covered with a small amount of snow. The swings swayed back and forth with the wind and each seat had a little pile of snow on it. The sandboxes were visible, but again, covered in snow.

            “Why did you bring me to a playground, Blaine?” asked Kurt, climbing out of the car.

            “Because…” said Blaine, getting out of the car. “You kind of lost your freedom, when you broke your wrist, right? You couldn’t drive and it was just generally difficult for you to do some things, right?”

            “Right…”

            Blaine stood next to Kurt and looked over at the swing set. He dug around in his pocket and produce a pair of gloved and handed them to Kurt. Kurt look at him, puzzled.

            “Kurt, what better way to be free than to fly?” Blaine replied as he pointed at the swings. “Come on. We’re going on the swings.”

            Blaine tried to tug Kurt in the general direction of the swings, but Kurt planted his feet.

            “Blaine, my hair.”

            “Kurt, let it go. Have some fun. Come on, didn’t I teach you it was nice to have fun once in a while?” said Blaine, nudging Kurt playfully in the shoulder.

            Kurt couldn’t resist the grin on Blaine’s face and gave in quickly. “Fine. But you have to push me.”

            “Well I thought we could swing together, but I guess I can be nice, just this once. I guess you kind of deserve it…” said Blaine, dragging out his words and rolling his eyes adorable. He grabbed Kurt’s left hand, ( _We can hold hands on this side now!)_ and pulled him towards the swings. He brushed snow off of one of the swings and Kurt applied his borrowed gloves before he sat down.

            “Ready?” asked Blaine, close to his ear. Kurt nodded, his stomach flitting with nerves. Suddenly Blaine’s hands were spread wide against his back and he started to push Kurt on the swing. Blaine was strong for his smaller stature, but he still was having a little trouble getting Kurt up in the air.

            “Kurt, pump your legs! You need to help me!” he said, gasping for air behind him. Kurt laughed good naturedly and started to swing himself, helping Blaine out. Once he got some good air, Blaine’s hands returned to his back. The two of them had started a good rhythm; Blaine would push Kurt higher into the air and Kurt would pump his legs.  Kurt felt almost euphoric! He was laughing and Blaine was laughing at him having such a good time.

            As he got higher and higher, he felt more excited. “I really do feel like I’m flying!” he called out to Blaine.

            “Now close your eyes and stop pumping your legs. Let the wind take you,” said Blaine behind him. So he did.

            Kurt closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He was still swinging back and forth, but he was just letting gravity do its job. The sound of the air whipping back and forth as he swung created this immeasurable calm, but all Kurt wanted to do was laugh. He was having such a good time, it was unbelievable.

            Finally, the Kurt felt himself slowing down on the swing and he held out his heels to dig into the snow. When he stopped swinging and opening his eyes, Blaine was sitting in the swing next to him. Blaine looked…nervous? Maybe a little scared?

            “Blaine, what’s wrong?”

            “Kurt, can I talk to you about something?” _Oh, hello heart, I see you’ve met my stomach,_ thought Kurt as his heart started to pound nervously. He knew either something really bad was going to happy or something really good was going to happen. Blaine just looked so nervous… _He’s probably going to tell me he has a new boyfriend or something, or that he’s moving away. This can’t be good, it can’t. Not with him looking like that._ Kurt was in a slight panic and he was trying to do absolutely anything to abate the prickling feeling behind his eyes.

            Blaine twisted towards him in the swing, the chains jingling. Kurt did the same so they were facing each other. Kurt looked nervously at Blaine, completely unsure of what he wanted to talk to him about. Blaine sat silently in the swing, looking towards the ground, his hands were in his lap and his fingers were twisting with each other.

            “Kurt,” he said with a wavering voice. He stopped and took a deep breath. “Kurt, ever since I met you I’ve contemplated many times how impossible it must be that I’ve been blessed enough somehow to meet someone like you.” Blaine stopped and grabbed the hand Kurt had lying in his lap. “You’ve change my life in so many ways, it’s unbelievable. And I keep telling myself that I have to be patient and I have to wait because I don’t want to ruin this, Kurt. You are the best friend I have ever had in my life. You can read me like a book and you always know the right thing to say. The first day I ever met you, I was so enraptured with you. Your smile, your eyes, the way you looked at me that day? When I called you on the phone that night and we talked for hours? I could barely believe it. I fell in love with you that day, Kurt. And it’s been killing me inside, waiting this long. I just wanted to make sure it was right.”

            Blaine paused and noticed the shine of tears in Kurt’s eyes.

            _Am I even breathing right now? Is this real life? Is this actually happening? Did he say he loves me?”_

All Kurt could do was look at Blaine and hope that all of the emotion he had been feeling for the past 6 weeks was being portrayed in his eyes, because Kurt was honestly speechless. He was slightly aware that his face kind of hurt from smiling so big.

            “Blaine…I,” he started. “I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you when you put your hand on my shoulder, that first time.”

            Blaine’s eyes widened in realization and suddenly he was leaning in towards Kurt carefully. Kurt swore his heart stopped beating as he instinctually leaned in a little more towards Blaine and suddenly Blaine’s lips were on his and it was the most amazing feeling in the whole entire world.

            Blaine’s lips were soft and warm in contrast to the crisp air. They moved slowly against Kurt’s own and _he melted._ He felt warm from the tip of his nose to his toes in his boots. Blaine moved even close to him, tentatively placing his gloved hands on Kurt’s face, cupping his jaw and deepening the kiss. The material tickled his cheeks, but he paid no attention except for the fact that Blaine’s hands were so entirely warm on his cheeks. Slowly, Blaine pulled his lips away from Kurt’s, but he stayed close, still cupping Kurt’s jaw. His warm hazel eyes were absolutely shining, looking hopeful. Bashfully he took his hands away after staring into Kurt eyes for a second.

            “Sorry,” he said quietly, laughing a little.

            “Don’t be,” said Kurt, a little breathlessly. “That was…”

            “Fireworks,” stated Blaine. “It was like fireworks.”

            “It really was. I think my lips are tingling, even,” said Kurt. “I can’t believe how long I’ve been waiting for that.”

            “Neither can I,” said Blaine.

            “Wow.”

            “I know.”

            The boys looked at each other, hardly believing what was going on.

            “So are we…?” Kurt trailed off.

            “If you want to, Kurt,” said Blaine, grasping his hand again.

            Kurt’s heart soared. _I’m going to have a boyfriend. Blaine, my Blaine is going to be my boyfriend this is absolutely insane._

            “I’d love to,” said Kurt, squeezing Blaine’s hand and trying to smile even wider than he was at the moment. “But can I ask you one thing?”

            “Sure,” said Blaine, nodding.

            “Are you sure I didn’t fall off the swing and crack my head open or something? This is real, right?”

            “I really hope so Kurt,” said Blaine, laughing. “Now, come on, it’s cold outside and we need to tell everyone. You know, I swore your dad and Finn had a bet going.”

            “Oh really now?” asked Kurt, “I wonder who’ll win.” Blaine tugged him up from the seat of the swing and pulled Kurt close to his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

            “Either way I think we both won the best prize, no?” asked Blaine quietly into his ear. Kurt wrapped his arms tight around him and hummed in agreement.

            _How can this be real?_

            “I’m going to be completely honest here by saying that I most likely won’t let you go back to Dalton tomorrow,” said Kurt.

            “Hmmm, I guess this was kind of bad timing then, wasn’t it?”

            “Absolutely not. This was the best day in my entire life.” Blaine pulled away and brushed a hand over Kurt’s cheek.

            “Aren’t you glad you broke your fall that day?” he said, teasingly.

            Kurt laughed, “I guess so” and he pressed his lips to Blaine’s once more.

 

Jackie (Muchacha11) made some beautiful art based off of this fic. I still tear up when I see it.[ Here's a link.](http://muchacha11.tumblr.com/post/19256878908/day-2-klaine-au-so-i-went-with-an-au-where-kurt)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you liked the ending! It’s no “Oh there you are, I’ve been looking for you forever,” but hopefully it was okay. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to check out the rest of the fics in the ‘verse. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Time frame wise, if you’re looking in Season two, just stop at The Rocky Horror Glee Show. Burt and Carole get married, and Kurt adjusts to having Finn as a stepbrother. As you move on to the next chapter, you’ll see that I continue mostly in the present time in which I imagine this story to take place, which is the end of December 2010 and continuing on into January 2011. Our boys still manage to meet in the same year, but it’s just done a lot differently.
> 
>  
> 
> A Broken Fall was published in 2011 and was the second fic I ever wrote, so be gentle with me. (The date is published as such to stay true when I was a baby writer. I just wanted to warn you this is being posted her after being completed for about two years now). A Broken Fall is also the first fic in the 'verse of the same name. Enjoy!


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